KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers the cities of Shawnee and Mission. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of health care, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.
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Tuesday morning storms left approximately 25,000 Evergy customers without power in Kansas City, Missouri.
The power outages forced some schools to close or dismiss early on what was supposed to be their first week back from summer vacation.
A spokesperson for the Grandview School District said students at Grandview Middle School were dismissed at 10 a.m. Tuesday because of a power outage at the school.
The Raymore-Peculiar School District posted online that students at Ray-Pec High School, South Middle School, Ray-Pec Academy, and LEAD Center were dismissed early, too.
St. Teresa's Academy was supposed to have its second day of classes, but switched to an asynchronous learning day. According to the school's president, there was no interruption to learning, and students will return to campus Wednesday.
Just a few blocks from St. Teresa's Academy, near Loose Park, the storms not only knocked out power but also uprooted a tree.
"I grew up in this house over here when I was a child, still my dad's house," said Zach Parelman, who was checking on his father's property after the storm. "Pretty much all of these trees have been here since I was a kid."
Parelman's father's house is just across the street from the uprooted tree.
"Yeah, it looks like it's okay from the outside, so. I think we got lucky," he said.
Throughout the day, neighbors gathered to view the damage, with many children enjoying their unexpected day off from school.
While damage in the area put a damper on the first week of school for many Kansas City families, other found ways to enjoy another day of summer vacation.
This included Anne Beth Mulloy, who took advantage of an extra day with her grandkids since they had no school.
"We're going to go around and look at the damage, and then we're going to have lunch, and then we were going to swim in the pool, and then....pudding pops," one of her granddaughters said.
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