Evergy and Heartland Rural Electric June 11 Weather Event Update

Bourbon County suffered damage from high winds in a storm that rolled through the area on the evening of June 11.

Two electric companies serve this area.

HRC Update

Heartland Rural Electric’s first outage report was around 5:30 p.m., according to Doug Graham,  communications specialist. “At that time six of our substations were off due to transmission line outages from our power supplier.”

At the peak of the outage, around 4,500 Heartland members were out of power, he said.

“Crews worked through the night on Friday to restore power,” Graham said. “By Saturday morning, the number of outages had been reduced to around 800. By the end of Saturday, we were down to around 50.”

“Most of the damage to Heartland’s system was caused by high winds, trees, and debris,” he said. “In total, we had around 20 pole breaks and 25 line breaks. Some lightning damage was evident as well. Our heaviest damage was concentrated in rural Bourbon County around Devon, Uniontown, and Bronson.”

“Heartland dispatched every available line worker to address the outages, and called in mutual aid from Twin Valley Electric Cooperative in Altamont in order to restore power as quickly as possible,” Graham said.

To be ready for a power outage, Graham recommended the following link:

BE PREPARED FOR A POWER OUTAGE (ready.gov)

“I would also mention that Heartland has a number of preventive programs in place to minimize the damage from storms such as the one we experienced on Friday,” Graham said.  “For example, we have a pole inspection program wherein we identify poles with rot or structural weakness and replace them as needed, and we have an extensive vegetation management program to keep trees from getting too close to lines. Without these preventive measures, the damage could have been much worse.”

Evergy’s Update

Evergy reported that around 7:30 PM on Friday evening is when they received notice the power went out in the area.

“It is difficult to give an exact time on when the last outages were restored because they all came back on at different times in those areas,” Andrew Baker,  Evergy Senior Communications Manager, said.

“Our crews were working widespread to make sure the power came back on as quickly and safely as possible for our customers,” he said.

About 2,000 customers were affected between Pittsburg, Ft. Scott and Humboldt, Baker said.

“The cause of most of the outages in the area was due to severe storms, wind, lightning, hail and heavy rain,” he said.

“We had around 50 crew members working in the area along with multiple contract crews as well,” Baker said. “We also had multiple personnel in the Wichita, Leavenworth, Atchison, and Hiawatha.”

“You want to make sure that your cell phone is fully charged and you have a battery-operated radio ready to go to check for weather updates,” Baker said. “You also want to make sure to create a communications plan in the event of a storm.  Have a family plan that includes an emergency meeting space and related information. This way you can make sure your friends and family members are accounted for if severe weather should occur.”