weather

With heat index values predicted to rise as high as 107 on Thursday, staff and volunteers from Kansas City Power and Light and the Salvation Army were handing out fans to help people stay cool.

KCPL spokesperson Jeremy McNeive said this is the sixth year the two organizations have partnered for the Extreme Heat Relief Program.

"We always want the hottest day of the year and, luckily, we got it," McNeive said.

McNeive said people who show ID and fill out a form can pick up a box fan, and the crews were handing out bottled water and heat rags as well.

A handful of Johnson County's 197 sirens designed to warn residents of a tornado didn’t go off in South Johnson County, where an EF-1 tornado touched down the night of May 2.

“There were some sirens that we found out didn’t activate when they were supposed to and we’re running that down right now,” says Trent Pittman, Johnson County's assistant director of Community Preparedness.

Crews in Kansas City, Missouri, spent Thursday cleaning up after severe storms, which spawned tornadoes, swept through the metro area Wednesday night. 

The National Weather Service reported that three minor to moderate tornadoes touched down in the Kansas City area around 9 p.m. Wednesday — in Raytown and Belton, Missouri, and Overland Park, Kansas. It also reported a tornado touched down a few hours earlier in Big Lake State Park about 100 miles north.

Record lows in Kansas City this past weekend were Greenland's fault, according to one University of Kansas professor. Greenland, as in the massive, ice-covered island in the North Atlantic Ocean.

"Spring is always pretty variable, and there can be this whiplash of cold and warm and cold again. That's, in some sense, just life on the Plains," says David Mechem, professor of geography and atmospheric science at KU.

Dozens of people from Kansas and Missouri are on their way to the Gulf Coast of Texas as Tropical Storm Harvey continues to batter Houston and other parts of southeastern Texas.

Historic flooding on July 27 led to a dramatic water rescue at the popular Coach's Bar and Grill in south Kansas City. High water also caused major damage to businesses in the same strip near 103rd Street and Wornall Road.

Now, the properties' owners have decided "it is just not worth it" to restore the 103 Square complex. 

The Little Blue River is causing big problems for the City of Grandview — more than $1.3 million worth to be exact. 

Heavy rains caused major flooding across the metro Thursday, and Grandview officials say they may end up needing state or federal help to clean up the damage. 

"Unfortunately, we might get to the point where we might qualify for some state or federal assistance because there’s so much damage," Grandview Communications Manager Valarie Poindexter said. 

This story was updated with additional information at 1:32 p.m. 

Heavy rains overnight caused severe flooding in parts of the Kansas City metropolitan area. 

In some areas of downtown, the rain at times fell at a rate of 2.5 inches per hour, according to the National Weather Service. Southern Cass County and parts of Lafayette County saw up to nine inches. 

Flooding was still widespread Thursday afternoon across the metro area, especially across portions of Wyandotte, Johnson and Jackson counties. 

UPDATED at 4:50 p.m. Monday, July 24.

Generators were buzzing in backyards across the Kansas City metro after severe thunderstorms knocked out power to tens of thousands Saturday night.

As of about 3 p.m. Monday, about 19,000 Kansas City Power & Light customers were still waiting for the lights to come back on.

UPDATED Monday, 8 a.m.: More than 12,000 people remain without power Monday morning after storms this weekend damaged trees and power lines across the Kansas City metro area.

Kansas City Power & Light crews are continuing to repair power lines and restore power to customers. That work is slower with these storms than others, according to a Kansas City Power and Light official.

“There were a high number of individual outages so that’s why this restoration is taking a little bit longer than what we’ve seen in some other storms,” said Courtney Hughley, Kansas City Power and Light spokesperson. 

Along with another day of rain in the Kansas City area, water levels continue to rise across Missouri, causing flooding and dozens of road closures. While southern and eastern Missouri continue to experience serious flooding the Kansas City area has not seen much impact. 

The closest flooding to Kansas City has occurred on the Missouri River at Napoleon about thirty miles east.

After the EF-3 tornado that destroyed homes in Oak Grove, Missouri, residents of the damaged neighborhoods were mostly in good spirits Tuesday afternoon – happy to be alive and grateful for neighbors who were helping clean up.

Jennifer Swartz’s home on South Clinton Street was gone. She and her husband were having dinner in Lee’s Summit when the storm hit on Monday night. When they tried to return home, they hit a blockade and drove to Independence, where they spent the night with her husband's parents.

From Olathe, Kansas, to Oak Grove, Missouri, Tuesday morning, metro-area residents were surveying damage and catching their breath after a line of severe storms rolled through Monday night, causing widespread damage but no major injuries or deaths. 

The National Weather Service says two tornadoes touched down near Oak Grove and Smithville and officials are set to survey damage there and in Olathe. Schools in Odessa, Oak Grove and Lee’s Summit canceled classes Tuesday due to continued power outages and damage to some buildings. 

"For those wishing for an oak mite apocalypse, you'll get your wish Sunday morning (11/20) when lows hit the mid-20s."

This quip was posted on the National Weather Service's Facebook page last autumn by Forecaster Mike July. Some people have a knack for knowing exactly what an audience is looking for in a weather forecast. For many, July is one of those people.

Over the icy weekend, Kansas City’s downtown streetcar service not only kept to schedule, it ran after-hours to stop ice build-up on overhead lines.

After the last passengers disembarked, up to two streetcars were kept running overnight to keep power-lines ice-free.

Donna Mandelbaum, communications manager for the Kansas City Streetcar Authority, says the trolley cars can run continuously if necessary.