By Abby Cambiano

Northeast News

After weekend storms left nearly 140,000 Kansas City Power & Light customers without power, Northeast residents are still working to repair damages made to homes, cars and trees. The Kansas City Museum, 3218 Gladstone Blvd., was one of the many properties affected in the area.

“KCP&L has been working very hard and around the clock since Saturday night’s damaging storm to resolve all of the outages and emergencies as soon as possible,” Executive Director Anna Marie Tutera said.

The museum had a downed power line, which caused a power outage, as well as a large uprooted walnut tree. Museum staff contacted KCP&L Sunday, and the Parks and Recreation Department has been waiting for safety hazards to be resolved before cleanup can begin.

“The Parks Department will make every effort possible to save and reuse the lumber of the tree for future use during the museum’s restoration and renovation process,” Tutera said.

Crews from Capital Electric, contracting for KCP&L in the aftermath of the storms, began work Tuesday afternoon to secure the power lines damaged by the uprooted tree. Asplundh tree crews began work to remove the tree so power can be restored to residents in the area.

While about 1,200 people—tree and line crews—have been out making repairs and cleaning up over the past few days, some Kansas City residents are still without power. Monday, Pumper 23 from Station 23 (4777 Independence Ave.) was seen out with crews clearing debris from roadways and doing safety checks. As of Tuesday morning, about 5,500 customers remain without power.

The City of Kansas City tweeted over the weekend that it would be conducting a damage assessment this week to see if curbside leaf and brush pickup will be required. For now, residents can take debris to designated drop-off sites for free.

Questions related to power outages are handled best by KCP&L, and outages can be reported by calling 1-888-LIGHT-KC (1-888-544-4852) or online at www.kcpl.com. Questions related to the museum’s tree removal process can be directed to Louis Cummings, Area Superintendent with the Parks and Recreation Department at louis.cummings@kcmo.org.