Storms knock out power to 92,000 in Kansas, Missouri on July 6-7

July 7, 2016 Wayne Barber Generation

Strong storms producing high winds and heavy rain knocked out power to at least 92,141 customers in Kansas, Missouri, and Kentucky on Wednesday night into Thursday, July 7, according to a summary from the Department of Energy (DOE).

Wind gusts of up to 60 mph were reported, downing trees and power lines. As of 3:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, 27,946 customers remained without power. Westar Energy (NYSE:WR) which reported 8,466 customer outages in Kansas, said it expects to have all power back on in and around Topeka by 10:00 p.m. CDT Thursday.

DOE also noted that most Xcel Energy (NYSE:XEL) customers in Minnesota have had power restored after a July 5 thunderstorm. About 250,000 lost power on July 5 but all but 8,000 Xcel customers in the state had been restored power as of mid-afternoon on July 7, according to DOE.  

About Wayne Barber 4201 Articles
Wayne Barber, Chief Analyst for the GenerationHub, has been covering power generation, energy and natural resources issues at national publications for more than 20 years. Prior to joining PennWell he was editor of Generation Markets Week at SNL Financial for nine years. He has also worked as a business journalist at both McGraw-Hill and Financial Times Energy. Wayne also worked as a newspaper reporter for several years. During his career has visited nuclear reactors and coal mines as well as coal and natural gas power plants. Wayne can be reached at wayneb@pennwell.com.
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