A storm system moving through the area early Thursday morning cut power to more than 3,500 Westar Energy customers in Douglas County.

The outages were scattered across Lawrence, and began around 1 a.m., said Erin La Row, a Westar spokeswoman.

Lightning strikes and trees falling on power lines were to blame for the outages, La Row said, and crews had worked to restore power to most customers by Thursday afternoon.

Areas in western Johnson County near De Soto were also affected, as were scattered sites in Jefferson County, but power had also been restored to those areas by Thursday afternoon.