http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-894296.mp3
Kansas City, Mo. – Thunderstorm winds raked a goodly portion of the metro region this morning, tipping trucks, tearing roofs and cutting electricity.
Wind blasts were estimated as high as 85 miles an hour, either as straight line or microburst. As many as 20,000 KCP&L customers in Kansas City, Missouri were without power. Another 10,000 rural homes and businesses in Platte County lost electricity.
The storm affected driving, safety and commerce in hundreds of businesses.
The bank in the Platte County community of Farley had to close for two hours. Inside, Sharon Graham could look onto adjacent cropland where above ground irrigation pipes were wind-blasted- "the six on the end blew over but the two on the front here, see, did not, like something went through the back there. The whole thing didn't blow over, just the end of it."
Damage ranged south to Overland Park where car windows broke at the police station parking lot. Roof of a Church was damaged in Bonner Springs and power outages were reported there too.
In Independence there was damage to structures and power poles close to U.S. Highway 40 and Interstate 70. The storm made a fast entry and didn't linger. It had moved East from the metro in less than one hour.