GLADSTONE, Mo. — Kansas City saw one of the coldest New Year's Days in its history in 2018, as temperatures plunged to -11 degrees Fahrenheit near 8 a.m.
On that same morning, thousands were dealing with power outages across the metro.
KCP&L described them as "widespread" and said the trend was partially caused by cold weather affecting several circuits.
What happens is customers bump up the heat in the winter, pushing too much electricity into one circuit, causing it to blow.
That was the case in Gladstone, where more than 3,300 KCP&L customers were dealing with outages amidst freezing temperatures.
"I woke up cold, out of my sleep. Toes frozen, and I'm like 'What is this?'" said Elijah Hickman, who said he was glad his younger siblings were not home to wake up in the cold. "I tried to turn the lights on, they're not coming on. Tried to turn the TV on, no TV coming on."
He said he called his mother who told him the entire block was without power.
"I was freaking out. I have two dogs and three kids and we were wrapped up in blankets. It was negative six degrees. It was so cold," said Linda Stevens, who lives across the street from Hickman.
Monday's temperature dipped into dangerous lows, on a day many warming centers were closed.
Libraries were closed on New Year's Day and some warming centers like the YMCA on Vivion Rd was only open until 1 p.m.
Meanwhile, Stevens said they didn't have heat for about two hours, however, around 11 a.m. it kicked back on.
"I was like, 'Thank God I got my heat working and everything so it feels good in the house now,'" said Hickman.
Other KCP&L areas affected included St. Joe and Smithfield. Someone drove into a utility pole in Blue Springs and there was a fire at a substation.
Independence Power and Light had nearly 1,100 customers out around 5:30 a.m. Westar had about 1,500 customers out in Sedgwick County.
As of 4:30 p.m. on Monday, KCP&L had reduced that number down to 63 and only Westar reported 9 customers without power, all of whom were in the Topeka area.
Here is a map to track KCP&L outages.
