At about 10:30 a.m. Monday, the Board of Public Utilities was reporting about 13,878 people were still without power in Kansas City, Kan.
David Mehlhaff, chief communications officer with the BPU, said there were almost 25,000 customers without power earlier this morning following a severe storm.
“We have trees uprooted, we have lines down across the city,” Mehlhaff said.
“We had winds up to 90 mph and that’s what played havoc with lines,” he said.
“When I stood outside and watched the winds, it was scary,” he said. “Once the winds stopped we started sending crews out.”
All utilities in the area are in the same situation, he added. The BPU has pulled in every crew it has, including some contract workers, he said.
Although he doesn’t know exactly when all power will be restored, “our goal is to get everybody up by tonight,” he said.
In some cases, there has been storm damage on the homes where the electric box has been pulled off the home, he said. That will take an electrician to help restore power, he added.
Today, it appears that remaining storms so far are moving to the south of Kansas City, so that may help the area dry out.
Damage is throughout the city, Mehlhaff said, while the central part of the city seems to be the heaviest concentration.