KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sub-zero temperatures late Sunday afternoon led to a pipe leak at the Kansas City International Airport.
Kansas City Aviation Department spokesperson Joe McBride confirmed a fire suppression system sprinkler head froze in the ceiling of the lower arrivals area, causing
a leak onto the floor near three south baggage carousels.
Thus, the area near baggage claims 6, 7 and 8 was closed.
Current look inside the KCI arrivals hall after a pipe burst, flooding the baggage claim area. KCFD is onscene assessing the situation pic.twitter.com/2f7Zbp3m6A
— Ethan Johnson(KEAX) (@kilocharlie1738) January 14, 2024
Cleanup of the area was completed Sunday night, with baggage carousels being turned back over to airlines for use by 9 p.m.
System water remains shut off as of Monday afternoon as "repairs are actively underway on ceiling and other damage," McBride said.
"All other areas of the terminal have operational fire suppression," McBride shared in an update Monday. "Four other carousels not impacted (2, 3, 4, 5) were shared by the airlines during the event. Flights were not impacted."
McBride said the south escalators and elevators to the departures area were affected by the leak and remains closed due to repairs.
However, he suggested customers of Allegiant, Frontier, JetBlue, Sun County, Southwest and Spirit use the north escalators and elevators as they are in service.
Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service of Kansas City officially logged -3 degrees as the new record low high temperature of Jan. 14 at KCI.
Well, looks like the temperature at the KC Intl' Airport managed to creep up from -4 F to -3 F at 4:05PM, so -3 F will be the neew Record Low High temperature for this date in KC. Stay warm KC!
— NWS Kansas City (@NWSKansasCity) January 15, 2024
With additional snow expected Monday and Arctic temperatures continuing overnight into Tuesday, McBride said Sunday that aviation operations staffers have been working to prepare for the Arctic weather and keep the airport under “normal operation, with airline and other crews braving frigid temperatures and working hard to keep flights on time.”
KSHB 41 Weather | Kansas City in store for snow this afternoon, evening, relentless cold
Real-time flight information can be found at https://flykc.com/.
“The Kansas City Aviation Department looks forward to continuing to help travelers move through the terminal quickly and efficiently throughout this winter weather event and beyond,” McBride said.
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