High winds late Sunday evening caused severe damage in Kansas City, Kansas, including around Wyandotte County Lake Park, as work crews began cleanup efforts Monday.
The joint Wyandotte County government and KCK closed the park at the lake Monday, spokeswoman Krystal McFeders said. An emergency management team had been deployed as a damage assessment was underway.
Among the problems found Monday: fallen trees and downed power lines near a playground. A dock on the lake was heavily damaged, McFeders said, and the marina was also significantly affected.
Also hit by the high winds across the city was a co-working space near 13th Street and Central Avenue. The Central Area Betterment Association, a neighborhood group, started a fundraising campaign to help with repairs after sharing photos of serious damage to the building’s roof.
About 3,500 customers were without power Monday afternoon amid nearly 200 reported outages in Wyandotte County, according to an outage map from the Board of Public Utilities. Nick Moreno, a spokesman for the BPU, said the bulk of the problems crews encountered consisted of downed trees and tree limbs.
At its peak, the storm affected about 11,500 people in Wyandotte County, according to Moreno. Those affected by outages are encouraged to call 913-573-9522 to report them.
In a video posted to Facebook late Monday morning, Mayor Tyrone Garner asked residents for patience as “our crews work hard” to clear debris and restore power to affected areas.
“There were several areas that were hit hard across the county,” said Garner, who advised Kansas City and Kansans to report the damage to the city and county government.
Powerful thunderstorms left thousands of people without electricity Monday, as downed trees and damage to homes were reported across the Kansas City metro.
In Johnson County, some schools canceled classes after damaging winds caused power outages, and crews found a damaged gas line on the roof of Mill Valley High School in Shawnee. Private energy company Evergy said nearly 19,000 of its customers were affected by the storm.
More severe storms are possible later Monday and Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Possible scattered showers in the afternoon and evening are forecast, including some with 60mph winds and quarter-sized hail.
The Star’s Robert A. Cronkleton, Andrea Klick and Noelle Alviz-Gransee contributed to this report.
