Power outages to last until Thursday in Kansas City; thousands still without service
The 39,000 Kansas City Power & Light customers who remain without electrical service should have their power restored by Thursday, company officials announced Monday.
About 175,000 KCP&L customers were without electricity at some point after a major winter storm dumped at least 10 inches of heavy, wet snow on parts of the Kansas City area. The snow snapped tree limbs, caused vegetation to sag and downed scores of electrical wires.
“This is the worst storm that we have had in decades,” said Katie McDonald, a spokeswoman for the utility company. “We are continuing to see additional outages come in so that the number is increasing of customers that are out every couple of hours.”
More than 1,500 line workers, engineers, tree-trimmers and other support staff have worked extended hours each day to restore electrical power, McDonald said. Additional crews from neighboring utilities have been summoned to assist KCP&L workers.
South Kansas City and Johnson County were among the worst-hit areas. The utility gave an update on their restoration efforts in the 4100 block of East 106th Terrace, where a number of households remain without electrical power.
“The biggest piece causing damage for us was the significant, heavy snowfall,” she said. “It is causing a lot of stress on our lines. It is putting a lot of stress on limbs. It is putting a lot of stress on trees.”
The vast majority of the damage caused by the weekend storm was located in customers’ back yards, along the individual service lines to the house. Some of those lines may provide electrical service to only 10 to 15 customers.
“When we get a storm of this magnitude it is important to remember that a storm like this doesn’t happen usually in a decade,” McDonald said. “This kind of snowfall acts like ice on the line, it is taking down lines, it is taking down tree limbs just an ice storm would.”
The forecast this week calls for freezing rain, black ice and sleet.
“And if indeed that happens, it will slow restoration as black ice will be a problem for the crews,” McDonald said.
Moving overhead utility lines underground is not option, McDonald said. The cost would dramatically raise rates and is not economically feasible.
The power outages may make for a tough week in Kansas City, as some weather forecasts suggest another winter storm may be headed toward the area this weekend.
This story was originally published January 14, 2019 at 7:02 PM.
