Thousands remain without power in Kansas City area after winds, storms down power lines
Thousands of Kansas Citians woke up Thursday with no power after howling winds and quick moving thunderstorms knocked down trees and power lines across the metro area.
And utilities were not able to predict when power would be restored.
More than 73,000 customers were without power across Evergy’s network, including 21,630 in the seven-county Kansas City metro area.
Evergy was reporting that about 8,860 customers were without power in Jackson County. That compares to 5,375 customers without power in Platte County, 2,793 in Clay County, 2,418 in Johnson County, 1,165 in Leavenworth County, 798 in Miami County and 221 in Wyandotte County.
Power lines and utility poles were down across the company’s network following thunderstorms and intensely strong winds that swept across Kansas and Missouri.
Wind gusts peaked close to 80 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Kansas City. The peak gust at Kansas City’s Wheeler Downtown Airport was 77 mph.
“We are experiencing a high number of outages related to extreme wind,” the company alerted customers on its outage map. “Restoration times are unavailable at this time due to the extent of the storms. Expect delayed restoration times.”
Meanwhile the Kansas City, Kansas Board of Public Utilities was reporting that 2,341 of its customers were without power as of 6:30 a.m.
“We are currently experiencing multiple power outages due to the recent high winds,” the BPU said on its website. “We are actively working to get power restored as quickly as possible.”
Independence Power & Light reported that about 220 of its customers were without power Thursday morning.
In Clay County, the circuit court closed because of an outage. A spokeswoman with the sheriff’s office advised that anyone with a court case scheduled for Thursday contact their attorney or check online for updates.
Power remained on at the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and jail, which have back-up generators in use.
The Star’s Anna Spoerre contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 6:52 AM.
