40-foot flames, thousands without power: Impact of high winds felt across Kansas City area

UPDATE, 4:50 p.m. | Lawrence Douglas County Fire Medical reports they are among the agencies providing assistance as crews work to put out a grass fire in southern Leavenworth County.

UPDATE, 4:20 p.m. | Evergy reports crews have been working throughout Tuesday to restore power to customers who have last power, though noted in a press release that ongoing windy conditions have caused additional outages to pop up.

UPDATE, 2:35 p.m. | Crews from Douglas County, Kansas, Fire and Willow Springs Fire Department have brought a fire in the 600 block of E. 1250 Road under control.

A Douglas County spokesperson said crews are helping out neighboring communities as well with additional grass fires.

ORIGINAL REPORT | Forty-foot flames and thousands of power outages were reported across the Kansas City area Tuesday as wind gusts approached 50 miles per hour.

Kansas City, Missouri, fire crews were called to a grass fire near 86^th Street and Highland Avenue around 11 a.m. Tuesday. Crews continued to work to put out hot spots through early Tuesday afternoon.

On the Kansas side, nine agencies were battling a grass fire in the area of 10995 230^th Street in Linwood, Kansas.

An assistant chief with the Leavenworth County Fire Protection District No. 2 described the fire as “large,” but that no structures or injuries had yet been reported.

The Leavenworth County Emergency Management Department said a roof was damaged to a building in Linwood, Kansas. No injuries were immediately reported.

The agency also reported crews in Leavenworth were battling a fire that was had flames 40-feet high.

As of 1:30 p.m. Evergy reported nearly 2,000 customers without power in Jackson County, Missouri.

More than 850 customers were without power in Leavenworth County and an additional 511 customers were without power in Johnson County.

The Kansas City Board of Public Utilities reports roughly 236 customers were without power.

KSHB 41 Weather meteorologist Cassie Wilson says wind gusts Tuesday have approached 50 miles per hour at Kansas City International Airport. Gusts exceeding 45 miles per hour were widespread.

Raymore, Missouri, said a "massive tree" was down blocking 58 Highway in both directions.

KSHB 41 News staff

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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