Capt. Spaulding's World

Illinois Nuclear Power Plant Loses Power- Vents "Low-Level" Radioactive Steam

2012-01-30T17:24:00.002-06:00

The Byron IL nuclear power plant located about 95 miles northwest of Chicago is shutdown after losing power Monday morning.

The ASSOCIATED PRESS story (partially shown in an image here) also said the plant was releasing steam from "the non-nuclear side" of the plant- but that steam contains "low levels of radioactive tritium, but the levels are safe for workers and the public, federal and plant officials said."

(Remember- Japanese government and plant officials said initially their nuke plant that was damaged by the March 2010 earthquake/tsunami was also "safe.")

Also of concern is the last paragraph in the AP story- "In an unrelated issue last April, the commission said it was conducting special inspections of backup water pumps at the Byron and Braidwood generating stations after the agency's inspectors raised concerns about whether the pumps would be able to cool the reactors if the normal system wasn't working. The plants' operator, Exelon Corp. (EXC), initially said the pumps would work but later concluded they wouldn't."

Today in History: In 2002- Massive Ice Storm Crippled Metro-MetroRegion Kansas City

2012-01-30T13:17:00.001-06:00

Ten years ago today- our region was affected by one of the worst ice storms in recorded history.

The following is a diary of sorts that I wrote during and updated in the several weeks after this devastating storm:

A MILLION WITHOUT POWER ASHISTORIC ICE STORM HITS KANSAS CITY

StartingJanuary 29 and ending near midnight on January 31, 2002, KANSAS CITY, MO. andmuch of it's 50-mile radius "MetroRegion" was struck by the worst icestorm in recorded history.

The weight of up to three inches of freezingrain and sleet brought down trees, limbs, power and other utility lines. InKC,MO. alone, more than "500,000" trees were reported damaged ordestroyed.

· KC,MO. remained under an officially-declaredstate of emergency from late Wednesday January 30 through Friday, February 1.

Other areas andcities also declaring states of emergency were JOHNSON and WYANDOTTE Counties in KS. as well as the MO. suburbs ofGLADSTONE, LIBERTY, RAYTOWN and LEE'S SUMMIT.

· At least a million people were withoutelectrical power during the height of the storm late Wednesday throughThursday.

· Three are confirmed dead ... two from carbonmonoxide poisoning, one dead after being struck by a falling tree limb. Atleast five dozen people were overcome by inhalation of carbon monoxide fumes.

More than one hundred people were treated forother storm-related injuries including falling trees, falling ice, falls on theice, fires and other accidents.

WEDNESDAYAFTERNOON 1-1/2 INCH ICE

MASSIVE POWER OUTAGES

Vast areas ofthe KC METRO go dark from the storm. Reports from power companies affected inthe MetroRegion ... including TOPEKA, LAWRENCE & ST. JOSEPH ... put thetotal estimated number of individually-billed customers without electricity atmore than 500,000.

That figure would affect more than half of thetotal MetroRegion population of around 2 million.

Thursday evening, KCP&L officials report"as many as 350,000 customers" or "around 750,000 people"lost power.

Tallies from other area power companies ... MO.Public Service, KCK's BPU, INDEPENDENCE Power & Light and KP&L add upto more than 175,000 of their customers who lost power during the height of thestorm.

Many power,phone and cable providers said complete repairs to their systems "couldtake a week, maybe more." Assisting crews from "a 20-state area"were sent to the KC METRO, and to other hard-hit areas of northern, central andwestern MO as well as eastern KS..

By the following Sunday, an estimated 325out-of-town crews were assisting in both utility repairs and tree limb removal.That number would grow to near 500 crews by the next week.

In theimmediate KC METRO, major damage to utility systems was reported in the MOsuburbs of INDEPENDENCE, RAYTOWN, GLADSTONE LIBERTY, BELTON and GRANDVIEW aswell as older sections of LEE'S SUMMIT and BLUE SPRINGS.

Much the same was reported in parts of KC,KS.and the suburbs of northeast JOHNSON County; WESTWOOD, FAIRWAY, MISSION & MISSION HILLS, PRAIRIE VILLAGE, LEAWOOD, OVERLAND PARK and SHAWNEE. Oldersections of OLATHE and LENEXA were also hard hit.

In four-countyKC, MO., the damage to the urban forestwas immense. From The Northland south and east to Northeast and the East Side.From the West Side, Midtown, Plaza and Brookside south and east through theEastwood Hills, Loma Vista and Ruskin areas, the KC STAR reported as many as20,000 street blockages by fallen trees, limbs and power lines.

Kansas Cityofficials estimate around 60% ... or 500.000 ... of the city's trees weredamaged or destroyed by the storm. Frontand back yards of houses with trees were littered with small to major limbs.

Many heavy limbs took down utility lines, but anumber also fell on sheds, cars and houses. The roof of a Metro commercialbuilding collapsed Thursday afternoon from the weight of the ice.

PUBLIC SAFETY AND HEALTH SYSTEMS OVERWHELMED

Strapped areapolice, fire and EMS services reported hundreds of calls for medicalassistance. MetroRegion hospitals reported full emergency rooms from earlyThursday into the weekend.

Saturday, four hospitals ... one in JOHNSONCounty KS and three in KC,MO. were turning away patients transported byambulances due to overloaded emergency rooms.

Thursdaybrought the first death associated with the storm. CASS County authoritiesreport a 41-year-old HARRISONVILLE man ... Christopher D. Moles ... died as a result of inhalation of carbonmonoxide fumes from a running gas generator in his garage. His wife and ahelping neighbor were also hospitalized.

Friday night,the KC,MO Health Dept., an agency mobilized in the emergency, reported"one" KC woman dead, "31" total victims of carbon monoxide inhalation. Also, acouple in their JOHNSON County home were also reported severely overcome by COfumes from a running generator in their garage.

Sunday, aLEE'S SUMMIT, MO man was found dead under a fallen tree limb on Hamblen Road.Up to two-dozen people were reported to be injured by falling ice and ice-ladenlimbs.

Wednesday night, three young persons receivedminor injuries when a falling tree glanced off of them. Also Wednesday, a K.U. Med Center 26-year-oldsecurity police officer was struck and pinned at the waist by a falling tree ina parking lot while on duty. His injuries were reported asnon-life-threatening.

By the weekendafter the ice storm, hospitals report more than 100 patients who had fallen onice-covered walkways. By late Saturday, there had been about a dozen personsMetro-wide that have reportedly suffered from cold exposure.

There were a few electrocutions reported ...one was Wednesday ... a power companyemployee who was working on ice-damaged power lines.

There have also been a considerable number ofpersons needing assistance with powerless home medical equipment. Injuries fromcar accidents were surprisingly few.

Fires alsocaused non life-threatening injury to at least three persons. More than twodozen structure fires from early Wednesday to early Saturday have causedhundreds of thousands of dollars damage.

From late Wednesday morning until early morningFriday, MetroRegion fire department units dispatched call after call, many ofthose for downed live power lines. Many of the fires in residences had anelectrical cause ... a number the result of power surges from shortinglines.

LateWednesday, the KC,MO Fire department had "six" reserve fire companiesin service "running numerous calls, " said Chief fire dispatcherPhillip Wall. Wall also stated that thedepartment was "making all pumper companies 4" person crews insteadof the usual three. "Ten" dispatchers were on duty by 7 PM Wednesday,up from the normal "4," Wall said.

At one point late Wednesday night, KC, MO.Firehad "six structure fires working at once" according to dispatcher BobCarlson.

In a seven minute period around12:30 AM Thursday morning, KC,MO fire dispatchers put out a multiple-companyresponse regular-alarm a minute.

Around 9 PM Wednesday night, water pressure wasgreatly reduced in south portions of KC,MO. when power was lost to two keypumping stations.

Fire department water tanker trucks from SOUTH METRO inRAYMORE and BELTON, MO stood by in KC,MO fire stations until pressure wasrestored just after midnight.

In a 12-hourperiod, the fire department dispatchers had received "nearly 1,200calls" for emergency service. That figure is only 200 calls short of anaverage total for a month.

Not countinginter-departmental and non-emergency/inquiry radio and phone calls, an averageof 100 calls per hour for emergency help were dispatched and eventuallyresolved.

Requests forfire department help became so numerous that from late Wednesday to lateThursday, the Fire department would only run on fire or carbon monoxide calls... all strictly medical runs were turned over to M.A.S.T. paramedic crews.

SuburbanJOHNSON County KS. fire departments also added reserve companies to handle theonslaught of emergency calls. From 7 PMWednesday to 7 AM Thursday, JoCoemergency services dispatchers processed over 420 calls for service.

Many areadepartments had to ask for outside help ... from 100 miles away, a Neosho, MO.unit came to HARRISONVILLE in CASS County MO. to help with badly-neededresources on Thursday.

HARRISONVILLE was hit particularly hardWednesday afternoon. That 15,000 population county seat had three workingstructure fires and around a dozen calls for wires arcing or burning.HARRISONVILLE normally has one structure fire a month and a dozen calls a week.

Late Thursday, KC,MO.'s Fire Chief Richard"Smoky" Dyer stated in a news conference that "the threat of(structure) fires is ten times greater than normal."

Fortunately,temperatures stayed warm enough that ice-coated roadways did not become aserious problem for either public emergency agencies or motorists.

Freeways and main arterials stayed mostly wetto slushy and many residential streets not blocked by tree debris were plowedand treated at least once.

Municipalitiesand emergency assistance organizations like the Red Cross had set up manyshelters around the MetroRegion for any of the potential million peoplerendered heat-less or otherwise homeless by the ice storm.

The KC STAR reported that around 650 peoplestayed in Red Cross-operated shelters by Friday night. Ten times that numberand more stayed in other shelters, hotels, motels, or with family and friends with power.

Precipitationfinally came to an end in most of the KC MetroRegion around midnight Fridaymorning.

THE AFTERMATH

Sunshine andlow 30's temperatures Friday did some melting. A 300-foot radio tower collapsed from the weight of ice in PITTSBURG,KS.. No one was injured by the collapse, but three radio stations using thetower were knocked off the air.

FRIDAYMORNING, FEBRUARY 1, 2002

By Saturday,temperatures had reached near 40 degrees as ice continued to melt and fall offof trees, power lines, structures and towers. KC, MO. Police closed streets andevacuated homes and businesses around the landmark KCTV-5 tower at 31st & Grand because of large falling chunks of ice.

Late Saturdaythe first weekend after the storm, KCP&L estimated the number of thosestill without power at just over 70,000 ... about 120,000 still powerlessMetro-wide.

Sunday, mostof the ice had melted from all but spots on the ground as temperatures roseinto the upper 40's.

The cost tobusinesses could be considerable. Thousands of businesses lost power for atleast a short time, a yet-unknown number were shut down for up to three daysbecause of no power or employees unable to get to work.

Utilitycompanies not only suffered considerable system damage, those companies such ascable television and telephone thatcharge a flat monthly rate for service will lose considerable sums of revenuein bill adjustments to tens of thousands of customers who lost service.

Late Mondaynight ... almost 96 hours since the end of The Great Ice Storm of 2002, areapower companies reported a total of about 75,000 customers still withoutelectricity. Many of those out were among the estimated 48,000 KCP&L and14,500 MoPUB customers.

WednesdayFebruary 6, exactly a week after the storm was in high gear, President Bushdeclares those MO. and KS. counties that applied federal disaster areas.

Power was still out to an estimated 25,000customers of the various electric utilities in the KC Metro. Some customerswere getting so irate that security guards were having to be sent with somerepair crews.

A KCP&L spokesman Tom Robinson stated their company had"430 out-of-state" crews working in the area and a few more were"being called from the ST. LOUIS area."

Municipalitieswere also getting a handle on what the storm would empty from their coffers.

Combined totals in JACKSON County MO. were around $34 million. KC,MO. estimatewas approaching $20 million, INDEPENDENCE officials said $7 million, RAYTOWNreported a figure of nearly $3 million.

Combined totals in JOHNSON and WYANDOTTECounties were around $17 million ... the total Metro-wide was approaching $50million just for storm cleanup and associated damages. Utilities still wouldnot give any cost estimates

Therecontinued to be an above-normal number of structure fires in the week after thepeak of the ice storm.

Monday nightFebruary 4, a KC,KS. woman died in a house fire there, but the cause is said tobe careless smoking.

An explosion and fire Monday in KC,MO. injures threepeople. The incident is at the Stratco Company in the 6000 block of ManchesterTrafficway and the cause is attributed to that other than the storm.

A house firein BLUE SPRINGS late Tuesday night February 5 killed two children and seriouslyinjured their step-grandfather.

From the homeat 104 Southwest Kingscross are dead, 11-year-old Anthony Turner and his5-year-old sister Ariel. Dennis Peel, 42, suffered severe burns trying torescue the two children.

The fire wasstarted by a kerosene heater being used in the front living room to heat thehouse. The home had power restored earlier that day.

Two housesburned over a period of two days in the small community of WOOD HEIGHTS, MO.,east of EXCELSIOR SPRINGS. No injuries were reported and the cause of both ofthose fires were said to be electrical and related to the ice storm.

Late Wednesdaynight February 6, a rare four-alarm house fire in south KC,MO. injured twofirefighters, one critically. The firewas in an unoccupied house on 96th Street, a block west of Wornall.

The 2-storystructure was virtually destroyed.

The twoinjured firefighters were were from Pumper 36, making a standard-procedure primary search on the first floor.

MarkRobinson was the badly-injured firefighter ... just four months out of the fire academy. Robinson reportedly took offhis mask and breathed in heated, toxic gasses.

The other injured man, actingCaptain Walter Flathers, suffers less-severe inhalation problems whileassisting Robinson out of the house. Both suffered some burns.

It took thefirst-in companies valuable time to clear storm debris covering a fire hydrant.Somebody had stacked their broken tree limbs on top of the hydrant.

Fireinvestigators said the the cause was electrical, and "directly attributed to last week's storm."

In the secondweek after the storm, the true scope of the storm damage had become clear.

KC,MO.reported an estimated "70,000 to 100,000 tons" of storm debris to bepicked up beginning Monday, February 11. That top estimate is only 20,000 tonsshort of all the trash KC,MO. collects in an entire year.

During thepeak of the outages (the KC STAR article doesn't mention when that"peak" was), 420,000 "local customers" ... those in theimmediate KC METRO ... lost electrical power. Friday, February 8, KCP&L's first storm recovery cost estimate isissued ... $28 million.

KCP&L reported the last of their customersnot needing private electricians are restored on Monday, February 11.INDEPENDENCE P&L had also restored most customers.

KPL/Westar coveringOLATHE and parts of JOHNSON Countyfinished Thursday. KCK's BPU was working to restore the last of their customersMonday, as was the power company with the most customers still out, MO PublicService (MoPUB).

Thoseestimated 800 MoPUB outages on Saturday were in RAYTOWN, LEE'S SUMMIT, PLEASANTHILL, BELTON, RAYMORE, GRANDVIEW, BLUE SPRINGS, BUCKNER, GRAIN VALLEY and OAKGROVE. Virtually all of those customers were back on by Tuesday, February 12.

The medicalsystem was so overloaded, only three of all of the KC METRO hospitals / medicalcenters did not refuse ambulances at any time during or immediately after thestorm ... from January 29th to February 3rd.

Thirteenhospitals closed to all ambulance traffic for ten or more hours during thatperiod.

On MondayFebruary 4, KMBC-TV Channel 9 aired a news special report on the storm at 6:30PM.

The print graphics during theprogram kept showing the year as "2001."

Many probably wished the storm had been thatlong behind them.

Updated Saturday, 16 February 2002.

_ _ _

How this event stacks up with Kansas City Metro's historic big storms:

January, 1973 ... Ice & Snow ... 95,000 power customers affected, some for four days. Worst storm in KChistory to that point.

Loma Vista West neighborhood hard hit.

March, 1984 ... Ice & Snow ... More than 200,000 power customersaffected. More than 8,500 dark for atleast 6 days, some nearly two weeks.

KC,MO cleanup alone cost $2.4 million.Damage also severe in LAWRENCE & TOPEKA.

October1996 ... Snow ... More than 240,000 power customers affected for up to several days.KCP&L losses $11.3 million.

KC,MO. collected 35,000 tons of tree debris.Cleanup costs KC,MO.- $3.6 million, OVERLAND PARK,KS.- $1.8 million.

January 2002 ... Ice ... Threedead and more than one hundred various storm-related injuries in the immediateKC Metro.

At least 420,000 power customers went dark with at least 840,000 peopleaffected. Throughout the 50-mile-radius KC MetroRegion, up to 500,000 totalpower customers darkened, affecting at least a million people.

Utility servicewas not restored for all customers affected by the storm for nearly two weeks.

A week after the storm, damageestimates for cleanup in KC,MO. at $20 million, INDEPENDENCE $7 million,OVERLAND PARK,KS. at $2.5 million.

Cleanup estimates for the entire KC METRO asmuch as $27 million ... $50 million for all municipalities in the KC METRO.

KC,MO. officials estimate 70,000-100,000 tons of storm debris ... normal year'strash is 120,000 tons.

Sources: Eight public safety scanners, KC,MO.Fire Dept., M.A.S.T., The KC STAR, WDAF, KCTV, KMBC & KSHB -TV and othersources.

*******************************************

NWSWeather Observations taken at 3 A.M. Wednesday, January 30, 2002:

MISSOURI

WESTCENTRAL AND NORTHWEST

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS

KANSAS CTY INT FRZ RAIN 25 23 92 N12 30.14S FOG WCI 14

KANSAS C DTWN FRZ RAIN 27 25 92 N8 30.14F WCI 19

ST JOSEPH FRZ RAIN 23 19 85 N13 30.18R FOG WCI 11

CHILLICOTHE N/A 27 24 89 N8 30.16R WCI 19

SOUTHWEST

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS

SPRINGFIELD RAIN 34 33 96 N14 30.02R FOG WCI 25

JOPLIN MIX PCPN 32 31 96 CALM 30.04F FOG

CENTRAL

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS

COLUMBIA MIX PCPN 31 31 100 N7 30.09S WCI 24

JEFFERSON CITY MIX PCPN 33 33 100 N7 30.11R FOG WCI 27

ROLLA RAIN 33 32 96 N8 30.04S FOG WCI 26

SEDALIA MIX PCPN 30 29 96 N7 30.12S WCI 23

WHITEMAN AFB LGT RAIN 34 28 80 N13 30.11S FOG WCI 25

OSAGE BEACH CLOUDY 32 28 86 N5 30.09F WCI 27

KANSAS

NORTHEAST

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS

CONCORDIA CLOUDY 20 12 71 NE9 30.18S

EMPORIA FRZ RAIN 26 24 92 N10 30.13R FOG WCI 16

LAWRENCE MIX PCPN 27 23 85 N8 30.18R FOG

MANHATTAN LGT SNOW 22 18 85 N10 30.19R FOG WCI 11

OLATHE IND FRZ RAIN 27 26 96 N9 30.15R FOG

OLATHE EXE FRZ RAIN 27 26 96 N9 30.11F FOG

SALINA LGT SNOW 21 17 84 N12 30.18R FOG WCI 9

TOPEKA BILLARD FRZ RAIN 23 21 92 N7 30.19R FOG

TOPEKA FORBES MIX PCPN 24 22 91 N8 30.16R FOG

SOUTHEAST

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS

CHANUTE MIX PCPN 30 28 92 N7 30.06F FOG

COFFEYVILLE FRZ RAIN 31 30 96 N7 30.06S FOG

HUTCHINSON MIX PCPN 22 17 81 NE9 30.11F

MEDICINE LODGE N/A 27 25 92 N15 30.06F WCI 15

NEWTON CLOUDY 25 21 86 N14 30.09F WCI 13

PARSONS FRZ RAIN 31 29 92 CALM 30.06F

WICHITA INTL FRZ RAIN 27 25 92 N14 30.10R WCI 16

WICHITA JABRA FRZ RAIN 27 25 92 N15 30.09S FOG WCI 15

WICHITA MCCONL FRZRAIN 27 25 93 N14 30.09F FOG WCI 15

WINFIELD FRZ RAIN 30 27 88 NE12 30.10R FOG WCI 20

NEBRASKA

EAST& SOUTHEAST

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS

BEATRICE * CLOUDY 18 7 62 N9 30.18F WCI 6

FALLS CITY CLOUDY 20 13 74 N12 30.20S WCI 8

FREMONT * CLOUDY 16 5 62 N9 30.21S WCI 4

LINCOLN CLOUDY 17 7 64 NE10 30.23S WCI 5

OMAHA EPPLEY CLOUDY 16 7 67 N8 30.26R WCI 5

OMAHA OFFUTT MOCLDY 16 10 79 N12 30.23R WCI 3

IOWA

WEST& SOUTHWEST

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS

ATLANTIC * CLOUDY 18 10 73 N10 30.22R WCI 6 TC -8

AUDUBON * CLOUDY 14 12 92 N9 30.20R WCI 2 TC -10

CLARINDA * CLOUDY 21 14 73 N10 30.21R WCI 10 TC -6

COUNCIL BLFS * CLOUDY 18 10 73 NW8 30.21R WCI 7 TC -8

CRESTON * CLOUDY 23 14 68 NW8 30.16R WCI 14 TC -5

HARLAN * CLOUDY 19 10 68 N9 30.25S WCI 9 TC -7

LAMONI LGT SNOW 21 18 88 N9 30.16R FOG WCI 11

RED OAK * CLOUDY 21 12 68 N7 30.21R WCI 13 TC -6

SHENANDOAH * CLOUDY 23 12 63 NW9 30.23R WCI 13 TC -5

OKLAHOMA

NORTHEAST

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS

TULSA LGT RAIN 33 33 100 N10 30.03R FOG WCI 25

TULSA/JONES AP FRZ RAIN 33 32 96 N8 30.03R WCI 26

PONCA CITY FRZ RAIN 30 29 96 CALM 30.06F FOG

BARTLESVILLE FRZ RAIN 32 30 92 MISG 30.09R FOG

MUSKOGEE N/A 37 34 89 N16 30.02R WCI 28

ARKANSAS

NORTHWEST

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS

FAYETTEVILLE CLOUDY 48 44 86 N5 29.94R

FORT SMITH PTCLDY 46 41 82 W9 29.93S

HARRISON CLOUDY 46 42 86 N3 29.96F

BENTONVILLE CLOUDY 39 39 100 NE8G20 29.98S

ROGERS CLOUDY 39 37 93 N6 29.96S

SILOAM SPGS CLOUDY 39 36 87 N9 29.96R

HIGHFILL CLOUDY 39 38 96 N12 29.95R

************************

National Weather Service Topeka KS Office's Public Storm Spotter Training Dates for 2012

2012-01-30T11:22:00.002-06:00

Here is a list of 2012 storm spotter training classes in the NWS Topeka KS office's area of responsibility.

These classes are free- open to the general public- and last from one to 1-1/2-hours at the locations listed on the image (click on the image for full size).

The Kansas City/Pleasant Hill MO NWS office's 2012 training sessions can be found by clicking HERE.

Raytown School District Patrons: Don't Forget School is Cancelled Today

2012-01-30T02:00:00.000-06:00

As has been announced all weekend by the Kansas City news media- the Raytown MO School District will not hold any classes today (Monday- January 30) because of a "flu oubreak-" according to the RSD Web site.

As of early Monday morning- classes in all Raytown schools are set to resume Tuesday- January 31- but please check the RSD link posted above to make sure.

National Weather Service Pleasant Hill MO Office's Public Storm Spotter Training Dates for 2012

2012-01-30T00:29:00.003-06:00

Thus far- it's been the winter that isn't around most of Metro and MetroRegion Kansas City and meteorological spring begins March 1st- and that's only a little more than a month away...

The Kansas City (Pleasant) Hill NWS office schedules annual storm spotter training sessions both in the Metro and around our MetroRegion and these sessions are free and open to the general public.

These sessions kick off tonight (Monday) in Johnson county KS at the JoCo Community College (see detailed info on the image-click on image for full size).

The goal of the NWS is to hold a training session in each county of their area of responsibility that covers extreme eastern Kansas and western and northwestern Missouri.

As of January 30- no such training class is scheduled for Jackson county MO- but check back later as plans should soon be finalized for such a session.

Wrong-Way Driver Causes Crash in Kansas City KS

2012-01-29T07:00:00.003-06:00

The all-too familiar call came in at 4:06 a.m. Sunday morning: a reported crash involving somebody going the wrong way on a Metro highway- this time it was on the long west/northbound Turner Diagonal ramp to westbound I-70 in KC-KS..

Police reported the driver of a small silver car had struck a "blue minivan."

Fortunately like Saturday morning's wrong-way driver crash on I-35 in Overland Park- both vehicles contained only their drivers whose injuries were not life-threatening.

Unfortunately like Saturday morning the driver going the wrong way- this one reported by EMS as "a 26-year-old male-" appeared to be driving while impaired.

Fire Damages Mission Hills KS Home

2012-01-29T02:41:00.000-06:00

In more than 20 years working for the K.C. news media- I have not had a working fire in Metro Kansas City's version of Beverly Hills- Mission Hills.

That changed at 12:23 a.m. Sunday morning...

That is when five companies from Johnson County Fire District 2 and surrounding departments were sent to a reported "fire in the basement" at 5720 State Line Road.

The first fire company arrived at 12:28 a.m. and didn't see anything at first- but a minute later they reported by radio there was "a working fire" there.

The occupants of the large house- located at least 100 feet west of State Line itself- were reportedly "out" of the residence when firefighters arrived.

At 12:44 a.m.- two additional fire companies were requested to the scene.

According to KSHB photographer John Batten on the scene- the fire appeared to be under control by 1:30 a.m. (confirmed "out" at 1:51 a.m.).

The cause was later attributed by fire investigators as an electrical issue in a basement home entertainment theater and damage was said to be "in the $75-100000 range."

CSW BREAKING: Crash After Raytown Police Chase

2012-01-28T18:42:00.001-06:00

Raytown Police chased a vehicle south on Raytown Road from the area of M-350 during the 6 o'clock hour at reported speeds of "100 m.p.h.."

The chase ended in a crash in Kansas City MO at or near Bannister Road when the suspect vehicle- whose male driver reportedly gave a RPD officer a "fake I.D.-" struck a power pole.

It sounds that fortunately no other motorists were involved in the crash that has reportedly "not injured" the suspect driver.

Power is reportedly out in the area of Raytown Road and Bannister- as well as traffic signals at that intersection.

More if/as received.....