KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Evergy crews and contractors began working to restore power shortly after Tuesday night's storm blasted the area with ferocious winds and blinding snow.
"At the height [of the storm,] there were about 60,000 people without power overnight," Evergy spokesperson Courtney Lewis told KSHB anchor Caitlin Knute. "Crews worked steadily through the night, and they were able to keep up with them. But, every time one group was restored, then another group ... so the outages were pretty much coming and going because of those crazy winds that we experienced."
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Lewis said 1,000 Evergy workers and contractors were working across the company's coverage area, including both sides of the state line in the metro area.
"They've done a really good job of just being able to lower the number of outages," Lewis said.
Lewis said the company had an estimated response time for late Wednesday evening for Atchison, Lawrence, Shawnee and Leavenworth.
Blue Springs and areas in the Northland, including Platte City, should expect late Thursday morning response times, Lewis said.
"And then late Thursday afternoon, we do anticipate the remaining outages from the storm event will be restored, especially those in the St Joseph area, Lee's Summit, and south of the river in Kansas City," Lewis said.
The wind gusts made restoring power a challenge.
"They did face challenges out there today," Lewis said. "That wind was just nonstop. We had those incredibly high wind gusts overnight and sustained winds as well as the ice and snow on the roads. We want to thank our customers for being patient because really all the ice on the road makes for slower driving to get to those restorations so our crews can get the power back on."
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