Outages grow after morning storms roll through KC. Here’s when power could be restored
More people lost power as storms rumbled through the Kansas City area again Monday morning, and one utility says it may take days to get power restored to everyone.
More than 90,000 people throughout the Kansas City area lost power when severe thunderstorms with heavy lightning and wind gusts estimated as high as 70 mph swept through the metro Sunday night, toppling trees, power lines and even a church steeple at the Maywood Community Church in Kansas City, Kansas.
Area utility crews had already made headway in restoring power, with slightly more than 27,000 customers remaining without power by 7:40 a.m. Monday morning.
But another round of storms pushed through the area, creating more power outages that pushed the total back over 28,000.
As of 10:55 a.m., Evergy reported that outages were affecting 22,660 customers. Meanwhile, the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities was reporting that more than 5,370 customers were without power. Just over 70 customers were without power in Independence, according to Independence Power & Light.
Evergy crews had restored about two-thirds of their 80,000 customers who lost power during Sunday night’s thunderstorms, the utility said on its website. It was bringing in crews from unaffected areas in its service territory to get power restored to the rest.
“Customers may see damage assessment crews driving through neighborhoods where power is out,” Evergy said on its website. “They are identifying what types of repairs are needed in these areas so Evergy line crews can work more efficiently.”
It expected to have power back on for most of its customers on Monday. However, outages with extensive damage and related repairs will take longer, the utility said. Also, additional rain and storms moving through the area could delay power restoration.
Meanwhile, the BPU said restoring power to its customers will take multiple days. More than 12,000 of its customers initially lost power as the storms rolled through Sunday night.
BPU crews along with additional contract crews were working to restore power as quickly and safely as they can, David Mehlhaff, the BPU’s chief communications officer, said in an email.
“This will be a multi-day restoration effort which could very well run into Wednesday of this week,” he said.
Additional rounds of storms are expected to pass through the Kansas City area Monday. Although a few strong and maybe even isolated severe storms are possible, widespread severe weather is not expected, the National Weather Service in Kansas City said.
This story was originally published July 31, 2023 at 12:19 PM.
