COLBY, Kan. (AP) Major highways have reopened in northwest Kansas after being shut down because of high winds and blowing dust.
The Kansas Department of Transportation closed Interstate 70 from Colby to the Colorado border at mid-afternoon Thursday. Sections of Kansas 27 and U.S. Highways 36 and 83 in Sherman, Cheyenne, Rawlins, Thomas and Sheridan counties were also closed for a time.
But the wind subsided as darkness fell, allowing the highways to reopen.
In Goodland, the National Weather Service reported winds of 45 mph with gusts up to 55 mph Thursday afternoon. Similar gusts were reported throughout the region, and authorities in Cheyenne County blamed the wind for a tractor-trailer rollover on U.S. 36 west of St. Francis.
