106,000 lose power due to severe weather in Kansas, Missouri
TOPEKA (KSNT) – The National Weather Service (NWS) issued severe weather alerts across northeast Kansas Sunday night as numerous power outages were reported.
A total of 93,000 Evergy customers were reportedly without power in the energy company’s service area across Kansas and Missouri at the height of Sunday night’s storms, according to a statement from Evergy on Monday morning. As of May 20 these outages have been reduced to a little under 18,000. These outages are being reported through the Evergy Outage Map.
Courtney Lewis, an Evergy spokeswoman, says severe storms and winds above 100 mph impacted much of Evergy’s service area May 19-20. In this updated statement from Evergy, the number of outages crossed the 100,000 threshold.
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“Over the course of the storm, more than 106,000 customers lost power. Evergy crews began restoring power as soon as it was safe to do so and had power restored to 85% of customers by late morning Monday. As of 11 a.m. Monday, Evergy has about 900 active outages with about 16,000 customers without power. Outages will extend beyond Monday for some customers.
As the severe storms moved through, heavy winds took down power poles on the distribution and transmission systems in multiple areas with some poles being snapped in half. In addition, trees and other debris caused damage to the electrical grid. The communities that sustained the worst damage included Hutchinson, Newton and some parts of the Kansas City metro area.”
Courtney Lewis, Evergy spokeswoman statement excerpt
Lewis says Every has 175 tree crews mobilized working to restore power and remove tree debris. The company is also calling for help from Liberty Utilities to assist with the extensive repairs.
People are being warned to avoid downed power lines or limbs on lines at this time. You should consider any downed line you see as live and avoid it.
The NWS issued tornado warnings for parts of Osage and Shawnee Counties on May 19. The last of these warnings expired at 10:15 p.m. on May 19.
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