Heat making power outages, storm clean-up more difficult for Kansas Citians

Thousands of people were still without power Monday after Saturday night’s storm caused extreme damage.

KCP&L says this is one of the largest power outages they’ve ever had to deal with. On Saturday night, more than 140,000 KCP&L customers were without power, since then crews have been working around the clock.

As of Monday afternoon, about 18,000 customers were still in the dark. More than a thousand people were out working to restore power for KCP&L customers Monday.

KCP&L said part of the problem is that many of the outages are in small sections where crews have to climb into backyards and do the work by hand.

In the Hyde Park neighborhood, a large tree ripped down the power lines.

“I guess the wind just came in and took it down. There’s still some power lines laying on the ground right there,” said Chuck Mahowald, examining the tree down in his neighbor’s backyard.

With the warm weather, residents are getting concerned about how long they’ll have to go without power.

“I know all our food is going bad in the fridge so hopefully they get it going pretty soon because it’s already been like two days,” said Roman Scott.

In Overland Park, power lines are down across backyards and driveways. One homeowner opted to camp outside instead of sticking it out indoors without the luxury of air conditioning.

Huge tree pulled down power lines in the Hyde Park neighborhood. Several homes on day two without power @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/8JCCv5aggT

— Alyssa Donovan (@AlyssaKSHB) July 24, 2017

“It’s hot… I mean it’s hot… it’s cooler out here than it is in the house,” said Edward Theus.

KCP&L expects to have power restored to 90 percent of its customers by Monday night.

Jamie Kiely, Senior Director of KCP&L Operations, said that last 10% could take a few days, “When you get to this point we’re getting in behind houses and you're having to climb every tree and your bringing poles in by hand and you are hand digging all the units it becomes very labor intensive.”

KCP&L says they won’t stop working until everyone’s power is back on.

Storm damage recovery

Between the power outages and the knocked over trees and limbs, it's been a busy and stressful couple of days for people throughout the Kansas City area. Residents in Johnson County, Kansas were hard at work Monday cleaning up the mess the storm left behind. 

"Raking, loading, cutting,” said Mike Yates, Shawnee Resident. 

That’s what Shawnee residents say they’ve been doing for two days straight.

Related Coverage:

Storms leave many in Roeland Park without power amid sweltering heat

KCK woman recounts roof falling in during storm

Shawnee residents began dropping off their debris Sunday morning and by Monday morning it was easy to tell by looking at the debris pile that the area had been hit hard. Some people patiently waited in line for over an hour to drop off one truck-load.

"It's just been crazy, we've had dozens of cars lined up to be able to dump, it's been really a lot of damage," said Kevin Taylor, City of Shawnee Parks & Recreation. 

Insurance agencies were also keeping busy Monday. One State Farm Agent says his phone has been ringing off the hook. He says anyone with damage should take pictures and be aware of scams.

These people aren't home but their family swung by to check out the damage. The roof and car are damaged @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/NiKhV27mh2

— Alyssa Donovan (@AlyssaKSHB) July 23, 2017

"Hire somebody that's licensed, don't sign something right away, there are some scams around," said John Wills, State Farm Agent. 

Also, if you can, try to clean up and prevent more damage from happening.

"Don't do something that's dangerous because it's very easy to get hurt doing this kind of work, especially with limbs that are hanging or that are, you know, when you cut them, they can spring back and do all kinds of crazy stuff," said Taylor. 

Here is a list of places in the Kansas City metro where you can go drop off storm debris.