With winds in the area reaching 60 miles per hour and more in some areas, numerous phone calls were placed to area first-responder agencies on Wednesday, December 15.

The strong winds caused several power outages in the KMMO listening area.

A news release says Evergy crews responded to restore power after outages affected customers. As of mid-afternoon Wednesday, outages were limited and scattered, but gusty winds (up to 70 mph) became more intense through midnight Wednesday.

Evergy is reporting there are residents still without power in the Marshall, Slater, Malta Bend, Lexington and Warrensburg areas in the KMMO listening area. At one point on Wednesday night, there were nearly 58,000 Missouri residences without power in Missouri, according to www.poweroutage.us. The bulk of them were in the northwest corner of the state.

As of 11:30 a.m. Thursday, December 16, the number of residences without power in the state has been reduced to just more than 22,500- including 420 in Pettis County, 113 in Chariton County, nine in Saline County, two in Johnson County and one in Lafayette County.

Evergy officials urge residents to stay away from any downed power lines. They say coming into contact, even indirectly, with a power line can cause extreme injury and could be fatal. High winds and storms could cause tree limbs to blow into power lines or result in downed power lines. If a branch or other debris is in contact with a power line, do not attempt to remove it. They say residents should assume downed power lines are energized and you should keep a distance of at least 10 feet from them. If a downed line is in a heavily trafficked area, report it to 9-1-1. Downed lines can also be reported via Evergy’s outage reporting lines.

Outages may be reported by phone at Evergy Metro, Missouri West at (888) LIGHTKC (888-544-4852).