Kansas City utility companies chip away at repairs; 65K customers remain without power

PHOTOS & VIDEOS | Scenes from around Kansas City after powerful afternoon storm

STORM RECOVERY INFORMATION

UPDATE, 6:55 p.m. | According to Evergy, 75% of customers who lost power in Friday's storms have their power back.

Outages that have affected small groups of customers in the Kansas City-metro area should expect their power to be restored early next week, per Evergy.

Lawrence and Topeka Evergy customers can expect their power to be restored by Sunday evening.

All available Evergy and contract line crews will continue working around the clock until power is fully restored to the metro area.

Currently, utility crews from Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Nebraska and Oklahoma are in the field helping local utility crews restore power. Crews from Colorado and Missouri are expected to join the effort Saturday night.

Evergy expects the largest amount of crews to effort restoration on Sunday morning.

Evergy said tree damage is slowing power restoration.

UPDATE, 5:00 p.m. | Approximately 65,000 customers are without power in the Kansas City area.

Power has been restored to more than half of Evergy's customers that lost power because of Friday's storms. Approximately 55,000 Evergy customers remain without power.

BPU reports about 8,937 customers remain without power on Saturday evening.

Approximately 1,384 Independence Power and Light customers are still without power.

UPDATE, 5:15 a.m. | Evergy: Just over 94,276 customers are without power as of 5:15 a.m. 3,412 outages are reported. The company reports about a quarter of the customers have been restored. At the height of the storm 186,000 customers were without power. Crews continue to work around the clock.

BPU reports 340 outages this morning with 13,335 customers without power.

Independence Power and Light reports 134 outages impacting 1,897 customers.

UPDATE, 9:40 p.m. | Evergy: About 133,000 Evergy customers were without power as of 9:30 p.m. The company reached out to utilities in Iowa, Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri to help with restoration efforts. The company expects restoration to take several days in areas the hardest hit by the storms. The company said individual estimated restoration times are not available when there are so many outages.

Storm outages in Kansas as of 9:30 p.m.:

· 53,000 in Johnson County

· 13,000 in Shawnee County

· 6,000 in Douglas County

· 3,500 in Greenwood County

In Missouri, about 55,000 customers are out of power in the metro area.

Independence Power and Light reports about 3,200 customers without power as of 9:30 Friday night. The storm ripped down power lines and power poles and damaged numerous trees in Independence.

The Board of Public Utilities in Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, reported nearly 15,000 customers without power as of 9:30 p.m.

UPDATE, 8:30 p.m. | Utility companies have started to make a dent in restoring power to thousands of customers across Kansas City.

As of 8:30 p.m., Evergy reported 146,000 customers remained without power. BPU in Wyandotte County reported 23,000 customers were without power, while 5,000 customers remained without power in Independence.

UPDATE, 5:30 p.m. | Nearly 200,000 electrical customers across the Kansas City area are without power after severe storms rolled through the region and at least one utility company has said all power will not be restored tonight.

Evergy reports more than 163,000 customers without power, while BPU reports more than 29,000 customers without power and Independence Power and Light reports more than 5,000 customers without power.

UPDATE, 5:16 p.m. | With flash flooding also a concern from Friday's storms, the Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department reminded drivers not to enter areas of high water or get out of their vehicle in flooded areas.

"Please advise that drivers do not enter high water with your vehicle," KCFD said in a statement to media. "If you do find yourself stuck in high water do not walk through the water. Open manhole covers and storm drains can be deadly and unseen when walking through water. Call 911 if you find yourself in this situation."

UPDATE, 5:05 p.m. | Evergy reported more than 150,00 customers without power at 5 p.m., including roughly 62,000 in Johnson County, 10,000 in Douglas County and 3,500 in Leavenworth County.

Another 56,000 Evergy customers are without power in Missouri.

Evergy said crews are out across the area and have started restoring efforts, but expect it to be a multi-day operation. All customers will not have power restored tonight, the utility company said.

"With widespread outages and outage events, we will have delayed restoration estimates and will not have all customers restored this evening," Evergy said via Twitter. "Evergy crews will be working to restore power for impacted customers as safely as possible."

Evergy said it was requesting mutual assistance from neighboring utilities to expedite the restoration process and will have teams assessing damage in affected areas.

Evergy also stressed to be aware of downed power lines and stay at least 35 feet away and urged people not to try to move them.

UPDATE, 4:32 p.m. | Power outages in Evergy's service surged to more than 130,000, according to the latest update at 4:25 p.m.

BPU was reporting more than 32,000 customers without power, while Independence Power and Light's outage map showed nearly 3,600 customers without power.

Kansas City, Kansas, police urged people to shelter in place and wait out the storm due to risks posed from the storm, including pooling water on roadways, downed trees and downed power lines.

UPDATE, 4:28 p.m. | BMX Mid-America Nationals, which are taking place this weekend in Raytown, have canceled all races Friday evening. The event will resume at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.

The Kansas City Breakaway Music Festival announced that it was postponing opening doors for the event until 7 p.m. and was monitoring further weather-related developments.

UPDATE, 4:25 p.m. | Evergy is reporting over 70,000 customers in the Kansas City area have lost power.

For the latest updates on outages, click this link.

BPU is also reporting thousands of power outages.

BPU customers can get updates at this link.

UPDATE, 4:05 p.m. | The Kansas City Royals' game is among multiple events canceled due to severe weather in the region.

The club announced that Friday's game against Tampa Bay, which was supposed to be the first after the All-Star break, has been postponed and rescheduled for 1:10 p.m. on Saturday as part of a split doubleheader.

The second game, which will require a separate ticket, will start as scheduled at 6:10 p.m.

Lakeside Speedway also canceled its slate of dirt-track racing for Friday night and Crown Center canceled its WeekEnder outdoor movie showing of The Addams Family, which will be added to the 2024 WeekEnder lineup.

UPDATE, 3:45 p.m. | A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for the entire Kansas City area in Kansas and Missouri until 4:30 p.m.

UPDATE, 3:33 p.m. | A severe thunderstorm warning is in effect for Clay, Clinton and Platte counties in Missouri until 4:15 p.m.

Severe thunderstorm warning for the north land - wind is your main threat with lots of lightning impacting your Friday night @KSHB41 #41Weather pic.twitter.com/7VKfqFfOZD

— ☀️ Cassie Wilson (@CassieKSHB) July 14, 2023

A flash flood warning has been issued for Lawrence and Lecompton at until 8:30 p.m.

Douglas County Emergency Management said there are numerous power outages after lines were blown down and trees were damaged.

UPDATE, 3:17 p.m. | A severe thunderstorm warning issued for Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavenworth and Miami County has now been issued until 4:00 p.m.

UPDATE, 2:55 p.m. | Parts of Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties in Kansas are under a severe thunderstorm warning through 3:15 p.m.

UPDATE, 2:35 p.m. | A tornado warning has been issued for parts of Douglas and Jefferson counties in Kansas.

KSHB 41 meteorologist Cassie Wilson said the warning will be in effect until 3 p.m.

Wilson says a rotation was located near Grantville and the storm is moving east at 40 MPH.

ORIGINAL STORY | The Kansas City area is included in a severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 7 p.m. Friday.

Also included is a large swath of eastern Kansas and western Missouri, including the cities of Lawrence, Topeka and Manhattan in Kansas and St. Joseph and Sedalia in Missouri.

WEATHER BLOG | KSHB's Mike Nicco details timing of Friday's storms

RELATED | KSHB 41 Weather Radar

KSHB 41 meteorologist Cassie Wilson has been watching a thunderstorm that's formed out ahead of the main line of storms.

Check back throughout the afternoon for updates.

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