Broken water main blamed for power outage at KC City Hall, Jackson County Courthouse
A broken water main flooded the basement of the Jackson County Courthouse in downtown Kansas City Thursday morning, knocking out power to the building and to City Hall across the street.
The power outage forced both government buildings to close Thursday. The water main break flooded the basement of the courthouse and the water affected the electrical areas of the building.
The courthouse downtown will continue to be closed Friday as repairs continue, officials said.
“There is no court taking place at the downtown Jackson County Courthouse while we have crews here working with KCP&L and the city of Kansas City to assess the situation and make any necessary repairs,” said Marshanna Hester, public information officer for the Jackson County Executive office.
All court hearings and appearances will be rescheduled and those affected will receive notices from the court, she said. The break didn’t affect court hearings at other locations. Staff at the downtown courthouse were told not to report to work Thursday.
The county’s assessment, collection and recorder of deeds offices were open at the Historic Truman Courthouse, 112 W. Lexington Ave., in Independence.
Kansas City announced Thursday morning that City Hall would be closed to the public because of the outage. Staff members were told to report to alternate work locations. Some staff members were dismissed early in the afternoon.
In an afternoon release, the city announced that the City Council canceled its afternoon meetings. The city’s 311 Center operated from an alternate location, where they were taking calls but with limited capacity.
People paying their water payments were being sent to Water Services at 4800 E. 63rd. City Planning inspectors offered limited inspection services Thursday afternoon.
Other than occasional telephone issues, the Municipal Court was unaffected by the outage and was in session Thursday, the city said.
This story was originally published January 31, 2019 at 2:59 PM.