Wilson ? Powerful storms slammed central Kansas with winds up to 100 mph Wednesday afternoon, sweeping at least three tractor-trailers and other vehicles off Interstate 70, authorities said.

The violent weather hit the Wilson area about 3:15 p.m., said Lt. John Eichkorn, spokesman for the Kansas Highway Patrol.

The patrol said the straight-line winds blew over several vehicles, including a tractor-trailer carrying a hazardous material. Eichkorn said it appeared that the material had not leaked from the truck.

He said it was not confirmed what material the truck was hauling, but that hazardous material crews had been called in.

“They are treating it as a hazardous site, but they don’t believe it has been breached,” Eichkorn said. “They have set up a 100-foot perimeter around the vehicle.”

He said the driver of the truck may have been injured, but that was the only injury he was aware of.

Eastbound traffic on I-70 near Wilson was being diverted for about a five-mile stretch. Westbound traffic was open but was down to one lane about 4 p.m., he said.

Farther west in Ellis County, a 20-minute blast of strong storms took down trees and power lines, said Addie Homburg, the county’s emergency management coordinator.

“We had 60 to 65 mile per hour winds, with trees uprooted and power lines down. It was a little rough,” she said.

A few miles southeast of Gorham, two oil tanks caught fire after being hit by lightning, a Russell County dispatcher said. There also were numerous reports of downed tree limbs and snapped power poles in and around the city of Russell.

And the 1,800 residents of Lincoln lost power for about an hour after 100 mph winds toppled trees and power lines, said Lincoln County Sheriff Russ Black. He said several of the downed trees were 5 to 6 feet in diameter.

“We have reports of vehicles hit by full trees, including my daughter’s,” he said of the 17-year-old.

He also said a garage was toppled and a couple of aluminum storage sheds were knocked over and blown into power lines.

About 3 inches of rain fell in about 45 minutes, causing flooding of up to 2 feet on city streets. The waters quickly receded, he said. There were no reports of injuries.

The National Weather Service said the storm resulted from a slow-moving frontal boundary that edged across eastern and central Kansas on Wednesday afternoon.

“It kicked off a fairly widespread area of thunderstorms, and ever since the onset early this afternoon until about half an hour ago, we had lots of severe weather,” meteorologist Darrel Smith said shortly after 8 p.m.

Hail the size of golf balls and ping-pong balls was reported in Minneapolis, Kan., in Ottawa County.

But most of the damage was caused by winds that reached speeds of 60 mph to 80 mph in a large swath of central to northeast Kansas – and 100 mph in a smaller area that included Lincoln, Smith said.

In his eight years with the Weather Service, Smith said he had only seen wind speeds reach 100 mph two or three other times.

“A lot of times the high wind events will cause more damage than a tornado because they occur over a wider area and they can last several hours,” he said.