By Dan Verbeck
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-983160.mp3
KANSAS CITY, MO. – In the Kansas City region, nearly everyone losing power from three vicious windstorms the past five days is back with fans, air conditioning and working refrigerators. KCP&L doubled its workforce with outside help to restore most of 238 thousand homes and businesses.
The last remaining pocket of about 50 addresses is where work is concentrated now, along and north of Independence avenue in the Pendleton Heights neighborhood.
There are some outages in parts of far north Overland Park and Olathe. The final storm knocked out ten thousand and most were in the Northland of Buchanan, Platte and Clay Counties.
Courtney Beatty of KCP&L says those who are still out are on the fix-list-- "all of them have been assigned and so they are all being worked on and hopefully will be restored here soon."
It was the second worst set of storms in the utility's history.
The ice storm of 2002 takes the negative honors with 300 thousand buildings without electricity for a week or more. Beatty says the economic loss to the company in the current storms hasn't been calculated as yet.