By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

Tornadoes snapped utility poles in parts of northwest Kansas on Thursday, downing power lines and cutting electricity from homes.

Fewer than 500 customers served by Hays-based Midwest Energy still were without power this morning.

Most of the outages remaining are in the Lenora and Edmond areas, said Bob Helm, a spokesman for Midwest Energy.

In that area, 18 poles supporting a 34,500 volt line were toppled.

Another seven poles -- all of which just had been replaced in the wake of 2005 and 2006 winter storms -- were broken off by a tornado that was reported to be a half-mile wide. That line also carried 34,500 volts of electricity.

A mile north of that Hoxie line, Helm said, three poles supporting a power line capable of carrying 115,000 volts were broken.

"We were able to reroute the energy on that line," he said.

Decatur County emergency management director Patti Skubal said there were a number of power lines that had been damaged by the storms.

"They've just replaced the majority of the power lines," she said, referring to work that has been done in the wake of a 2006 storm that iced lines throughout much of northwest Kansas, snapping poles as high winds hit.

In addition to the outages in the Lenora and Edmond areas, Helm there also were isolated outages near Selden -- also hard hit by the Thursday storms -- as well as in Wallace and Sherman counties.

An early morning storm that swept through Ellis County caused an outage in Hays that affected about 900 customers between 5 and 6 a.m.

Electricity struck a transformer, cutting off power to parts of northwest Hays.

Power was restored by about 6 a.m.

Scattered reports of outages in outlying areas continue to trickle in as the day wears on, Helm said.