Power finally restored to thousands after weekend storms in KC. Here’s what caused delays
After days in the dark, most Kansas City area customers have had their power restored after storms that swept across the metro Saturday night knocked out power to thousands.
Evergy was able to restore power for upwards of 4,350 customers who still remained without power as of Tuesday, according to previous reporting from The Star. The power company restored power to around 100,000 customers within the first 24 hours, Evergy Senior Communications Manager Courtney Lewis said in an interview Wednesday.
Strong winds and a downburst near Interstate 70 caused damage to power poles and large trees in the area, making it a monumental effort for crews to repair, Lewis said.
Evergy received assistance from 900 additional people, including individuals from Alliant Energy based in Iowa and Wisconsin and Liberty Utilities based in Joplin, Lewis said. Other regional contractors also helped with the project.
“We were really able to get almost everyone back on earlier than we had expected because of the good work of bringing in those extra crews and then our team efficiently and strategically managing our own staff as well as those other crews to get them out to where they needed to go to get everyone back on,” Lewis said.
By Wednesday, just over 100 customers remained without power across the region, although the power company was not attributing those outages to the storm.
According to Evergy’s power outage map as of Wednesday afternoon, 49 customers are still without power in Johnson County, currently the highest number in the metro.
In other counties in the area, Cass County has 5 customers without power, Clay County has 5 and Jackson County has 31, according to Evergy’s power outage map.
According to the Kansas City Kansas Board of Public Utilities, 11 customers are without power in Wyandotte County.
The City of Leawood announced Wednesday that it will begin a curbside storm debris removal program beginning Monday, according to a news release. Residents may also drop off storm debris at the Leawood Logistics Center at 2008 W. 104th St on Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Kansas City will have a two-week debris drop off in Raytown at 11660 N. Main Street, 7700 E. U.S. 40 highway and 10301 Raytown Road, according to previous reporting by The Star.
The Star’s Robert A. Cronkleton contributed reporting.