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Minor flooding is forecast for the Arkansas River at Arkansas City. The river was at 9.4 feet at 3 p.m. today. It should reach its 11-foot flood stage by Thursday morning and crest around 12.4 feet on Friday afternoon. The river should fall below 11 feet by late Saturday night. Public Works crews closed one stormwater gate on the Arkansas this afternoon. No problems are expected and the Walnut is expected to stay well below its 18-foot flood stage. Arkansas City received 1.08 inches of rain early Wednesday morning. Strother Field had 1.25 inches, the Arkansas City Wastewater Treatment Facility had 1.29 inches and the IXL area 1.51 inches. About 2.09 inches was recorded 1 mile west of Silverdale.

Milling to start April 25 on North Summit Street

Cornejo and Sons will begin asphalt milling today on Summit Street, working southward in one of the outside lanes from Kansas Avenue to Walnut Avenue. The milling will continue back northward in the other outside lane from Walnut to Kansas, then traffic will be rerouted to the outside lanes and the process will resume in the same way for the inside lanes. The entire milling process is expected to last about a week, depending on weather. Concrete and storm sewer replacement also continues at the intersection with East Linden Avenue. The North Summit Street project is about 80 percent complete. The leftover millings from this project, along with those collected last year during the milling of West Radio Lane and those produced by this year’s milling of South Summit from the U.S. 77 bypass to the Arkansas River, will be used by the City of Arkansas City later this year to pave several gravel roads throughout Ark City. A full list of the roads to be resurfaced with this material will be released at a later date. For more information, visit http://arkansascityks.gov/news_detail_T6_R174.php.

Arbor Day celebration features tree planting

Residents are urged to come to Wilson Park on April 28 for a special Arbor Day celebration that will double as the “groundbreaking” of the Wilson Park Master Plan. The event — sponsored by the City of Arkansas City, the Beautification and Tree Advisory Board, and the Arkansas City Area Chamber of Commerce & Convention Visitors Bureau — will feature food, music, a free movie and the planting of three trees in the northeast part of the park. The event will be from 5 to about 8:30 p.m. at various locations in the park, 701 N. Summit St. The Charlie's Pizza Taco Wichita truck will provide food from 5 to 8 p.m., just east of the rotunda. Entertainment will include the Cowley College Singers at 5:10, Cody Griesel on banjo at 5:40, Eric Swanson on guitar at 6 p.m. and a free showing of "The Lorax" at 7 p.m. For more information, visit http://arkansascityks.gov/news_detail_T6_R172.php.

If you have a question, heard a rumor, or feel the city can improve, I want to hear about it. We know there is room for improvement and there always will be. The city handles thousands of situations weekly, some of which are highly unique and complicated. There is no need to fill in the blanks, just ask me directly. I will give you an answer or find it for you, I can not guarantee that you will agree with the answer, but you will know the reasoning behind it. No one has anything to hide, there are no hidden agendas. We all work every minute of the day to make Ark City a better place, together this is home. - Nick Hernandez, City Manager. 441-4414 or nhernandez@arkansascityks.gov

Ark City Daily Bytes

In the ninth episode of “City Matters,” City Manager Nickolaus Hernandez talks about the Wilson Park Master Plan, narrates a fly-through video of the park and discusses phasing for the project. Citizens who have questions they would like Hernandez to answer in future episodes may email them to nhernandez@arkansascityks.gov, alawson@arkansascityks.gov or info@acdailybytes.com. Questions also may be asked on the City of Arkansas City or Ark City Daily Bytes Facebook pages, or via the Citizen Request Center on the City website. “City Matters” is a partnership of the City and Ark City Daily Bytes, a local multimedia company. The weekly video series features Hernandez answering questions from citizens on a wide variety of subjects.

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The 2017 Outdoor Friday Family Movie Series will resume Friday night in Arkansas City with the series' first-ever Marvel Studios film! “Doctor Strange” is sponsored by Union State Bank. The movie will start promptly at 7 p.m. under the Wilson Park rotunda. Prior to the movie, the Wilson Park Master Plan will be shown to attendees on the big screen on the V.J. Wilkins Memorial Stage. For more information, visit http://arkansascityks.gov/news_detail_T6_R168.php. Check www.arkansascityks.gov or www.facebook.com/arkcity for weather updates or cancellations.

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The Arkansas and Walnut rivers have both crested and are falling at Arkansas City, according to the National Weather Service. The Arkansas crested at 12.8 feet about midnight Thursday. The Walnut crested at 15.3 feet about 10:15 pm Thursday. There is a slight risk of severe thunderstorms late Sunday afternoon. The main threat is large hail and damaging winds. We will continue to monitor changing weather forecasts throughout the weekend.

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A flood warning remains in effect for the Arkansas River at Arkansas City, but the flood warning for the Walnut is canceled. The Arkansas River was at 7.8 feet and rising at 3 p.m. It will reach its 11-foot flood stage late Thursday and crest at 12 feet Friday morning. The Walnut was at 10.4 feet and will crest at 16.2 feet midday Friday. Its flood stage is 18 feet. The stormwater gates on the Walnut River remain closed. City crews closed an Arkansas River gate this afternoon at Lincoln Avenue and Sixth Street. Ark City received 0.48 inch of rain last night. Pea- to dime-sized hail covered the ground for a time. No damage was reported within the City limits of Arkansas City. Maximum wind speeds measured at City Hall were 35 mph, but there were gusts of up to 44 mph near Kansas Avenue and Third Street and at Strother Field. Several power poles were damaged by wind on 252nd Road, west of 61st Road, which caused up 800 Westar Energy customers to lose power in the north part of Arkansas City from 6:20 to 10 p.m. South Central Kansas Medical Center was on emergency power from about 6:30 to 10 p.m. There still were about 14 Westar customers without power as of 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Arkansas City area.

City of Arkansas City's cover photo

10 PM UPDATE: Power has been restored to South Central Kansas Medical Center. Still some spotty outages within the City limits, with 43 customers still out in the Ark City area. Storm damage update: A strong thunderstorm that blew through Arkansas City around 6:20 p.m. today brought small hail and 30- to 40-mph winds, downing several electric poles and lines in the area. Most of the city north of Kansas Avenue lost power, including along Summit Street. Although power was restored temporarily to some areas, we still are experiencing intermittent outages and Westar Energy continues to work on the problems. South Central Kansas Medical Center currently is without electricity and is running off backup generators. This outage might last until some time Wednesday. Several poles were downed in the area of 252nd Road, west of 61st Road. Westar is calling in outside crews to assist with that work. We will post more updates as they are available. Other than the electrical outages, the City has received no significant damage reports from this storm.

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The 2017 Outdoor Friday Family Movie will resume tonight in Arkansas City with another animated Disney favorite under the Wilson Park rotunda. “The Secret Life of Pets” is cosponsored by the Kiwanis Club and The Stock Exchange Bank. The movie will start promptly at 7 p.m. under the Wilson Park rotunda. Prior to the movie, the Wilson Park Master Plan will be shown to attendees on the big screen on the V.J. Wilkins Memorial Stage. The weather should remain nice and cool this evening, but tonight's low is 46 degrees, so the City suggests dressing in warm clothes and bringing a blanket or two (and maybe even some hot cocoa!) For more information, visit http://arkansascityks.gov/news_detail_T6_R168.php. Check www.arkansascityks.gov or www.facebook.com/arkcity for weather updates or cancellations.

Wilson Park master plan unveiled by city at chamber coffee March 30

All aboard!