Sunday, September 19, 2010

Storms Cause Extensive Damage- Power Outages- Across The Kansas City Northland


S
evere thunderstorms that sat over Kansas City MO's Northland late Saturday night have caused damage and flooding.


Tree damage and power outages are so extensive that the City of KC-MO has activated the Emergency Operations Center- and have established a command post on the south end of Antioch Mall at Vivion Road and North Antioch.

Trees and/or tree limbs as well as hail to the size of golf balls fell on houses and vehicles from Riverside to the Worlds of Fun area.

Struck by possible microburst winds of up to hurricane force- trees came down on houses around Vivion Road and High Drive in Riverside- and at 2820 N.E. 47th Terrace- 4246 N. Cypress and 2 houses in the 3700 block of N.E. 46th Street in KC-MO..

More than 3.5 inches of rain fell near Claycomo at Shoal Creek in one hour.

A KC-MO firefighter suffered non life-threatening injuries at 11:14 p.m. Saturday night as he responded on a storm-related call at 4601 N.E. Winn Road.

The male firefighter was getting out of the truck when he was struck by a falling tree limb.

He was taken to North Kansas City hospital who also lost power in the storm and was operating on emergency generators early Sunday morning.

Thousands of patrons at Worlds of Fun had a Terror of A Time when winds and lightning knocked out electrical power and torrential rains flooded the amusement park during the 10 o'clock hour.

Two KC-MO FD-EMS units had to be sent for people suffering medical issues- mostly due to anxiety over the storm.

More than 10000 KC-MO Northland residents- including Riverside- Gladstone- Claycomo and parts of Liberty are without power early Sunday morning- and fire companies are basically going block by block with chainsaws to clear streets of fallen trees and limbs.

Flash flooding was also reported in North Kansas City in the area of North 32nd Street and Holmes as well as in Claycomo near Shoal Creek.

It now appears the current strong storms will stay north of the affected areas throughout the next few hours at least.


The damage wasn't limited to the Northland...


Earlier- severe storms rolled through northern through eastern Jackson county MO..

Late Saturday afternoon- hail the size of baseballs caused thousands of dollars of damage to Independence Center- breaking through skylights and windows allowing areas of the large enclosed shopping center to flood.

Hail also dented roofs- hoods and trunks and cracked or broke out windows of dozens of vehicles in the mall's parking lot and surrounding area.

Lightning struck at least 4 homes with no major fire or damage reported- one in northern Lee's Summit and 3 in Blue Springs.

One person suffered minor injuries after lightning struck their home in the 5000 block of N.W. Downing in Blue Springs around 5:15 p.m. Saturday.

Another woman was transported to Centerpoint Medical Center after suffering injuries when "a tent fell on her during the storm" paramedics said.



More storms in Blue Springs after 10 p.m. Saturday night caused flash flooding.

Two people were rescued from a car struck in high water on Duncan Road about a block east of Adams Dairy Parkway around 10:15 p.m..

Duncan was closed to all traffic for about 25 minutes.

M-7 was also closed at Argo Road due to flooding.

Numerous minor or non-injury crashes occured along M-291- I-70- M-7 and U.S. 40 during the height of the storms- some caused when hail cracked windshields causing drivers to steer off the road.

At least 5000 customers remained without power early Sunday morning from eastern Independence through Blue Springs- Grain Valley and Oak Grove.


KSHB photojournalist Andy Pollard has been out since 10:30 p.m. Saturday night and NBC Action News will have a complete report- including SkyTracker helicopter scenes of damage and flooding- on Sunday's newscasts.
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