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Tens of thousands without power Saturday after thunderstorms hit Kansas City area

More than 92,000 Evergy customers were without power Saturday morning, a day after severe thunderstorms rolled through the Kansas City metro area, downing trees and causing electricity outages.

At 7 a.m., the company said crews were still working to restore power. Evergy has said it will likely take days to return power to all of the affected customers.

During the storm’s peak Friday afternoon , about 186,000 Evergy customers were left without electricity. Now power has been restored to about half of those affected, according to an update on the company’s website.

Evergy said over 1,000 employees, including line crews and safety support teams, were working on “storm restoration.” The company said it has also reached out to neighboring utilities in Iowa, Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri for help.

A tree rests on the roof of a house Saturday, July 14, 2023, in Prairie Village where it landed after being blown over by a strong storm on Friday. Damage from Friday night’s storm caused mass power outages throughout the Kansas City Metro area.
A tree rests on the roof of a house Saturday, July 14, 2023, in Prairie Village where it landed after being blown over by a strong storm on Friday. Damage from Friday night’s storm caused mass power outages throughout the Kansas City Metro area.

“We expect restoration in the areas most severely impacted to be a multi-day restoration effort ... individual estimated restoration times are not available,” the website said.

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Crews were driving around the metro, continuing to assess the damage Saturday morning.

Check Evergy’s outage map

Evergy’s outage map includes live updates on outages across the company’s service area.

If you click the “X” at the top of the box that says “July 15 Update,” you can then zoom in on different areas and see the number of outages in real time.

Clean up crews with Midwest Tree remove a fallen silver maple tree from a yard on Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Overland Park. As of 1:30 p.m., just under 65,000 residents in the Kansas City area were without power.
Clean up crews with Midwest Tree remove a fallen silver maple tree from a yard on Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Overland Park. As of 1:30 p.m., just under 65,000 residents in the Kansas City area were without power.

Customers can report an outage to Evergy online here and check out The Star’s guide on what to do if a tree or power line falls near your property.

Power outage map

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Star reporter Kynala Phillips contributed to this story.