KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, city leaders want residents to stay indoors and off the roads as the blizzard continues into Monday.
Mayor Quinton Lucas and City Manager Brian Platt provided updates about city snow removal operations Sunday and talked about plans for the week ahead.
“The only issue isn’t snow and ice, it’s also the cold weather and the temperatures,” Lucas said.
The frigid temperatures forced the cancellation of trash pickup Monday and Tuesday in KCMO.
People who don’t get their trash picked up this week can put out two extra bags the next week.
“When the temperatures get into single digits, it’s unsafe for our workers to be out there, so we don’t want to put our own employees at risk,” Platt said.
Platt said the emergency cold weather shelter, which has up to 400 beds, will be operating.
Hope Faith’s Homeless Assistance Campus is the starting point for those services.
Eight community centers also are open as warming centers, and Platt said all RideKC and KCATA buses are open to be used as warming buses.
“For tomorrow, if you don’t need to go to a physical structure, then don’t,” Lucas said.
All non-essential city services and locations are closed Monday and Tuesday, including City Hall and municipal court buildings.
Officials say to check to find out if any pre-scheduled meetings will be conducted virtually.
Another place with changing schedules: the airport.
“Anyone who has been up there, or has flights, knows that many flights are canceled,"Lucas said. "We encourage you to stay in touch with your airlines."
Lucas says restaurants and other services are open extra hours for those having to stay at the airport.
With over 300 trucks equipped with snow plows and 400 drivers, the city says it has a primary goal right now.
“We’re focused right now on clearing the roads from snow,” Platt said. “We’re putting our plows down and pushing that snow off the streets.”
All routes have been plowed and pre-treated at least once, but that’s just the start.
“We have required folks to come into work; it’s mandatory,” Lucas said. “We have folks that are working overtime, and we are using every single department. There are people in the health department that are driving snow plows, and people in city planning and development.”
The mayor emphasized all city workers driving have the proper training to drive and operate the snow plow trucks.
A key resource the city is pointing people towards is the myKCMO app or dialing 3-1-1 to report any snow and ice issues for city workers to clear.
“We have a lot of work that we continue to do," Platt said. "We have a lot of precipitation that continues to fall, and we’ll make sure that we’re ready on that emergency basis."
