KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- The Board of Public Utilities released its report regarding the death of a Johnson County man at Rosedale Park.
The death happened as a result of a down power-line following a thunderstorm that hit Kansas City, Kan., on Saturday, June 15.
Here is BPU's full statement:
The Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has reviewed the events surrounding the sudden storm that impacted the Kansas City region late Saturday afternoon, June 15th.
This storm produced winds in excess of 70 mph, resulting in widespread electrical outages impacting 2,277 customers across BPU’s service territory. BPU’s outage hotline received a total of 553 calls including three that we have identified regarding the downed line in Rosedale Park. BPU received the initial call regarding the downed line from the 911 Dispatch Center at 4:07 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
At 4:04 p.m. Saturday, BPU crews began working to restore power to customers and repair damaged infrastructure which included broken poles and a total of 30 downed lines. Crews worked around the clock until midnight, June 16th on the storm repair moving from location to location.
At 3:29 a.m. Sunday, June 16th, BPU crews arrived at Rosedale Park to repair the downed line. The danger and risk of downed power lines in our community are taken very seriously by our utility.
It is very unfortunate that we did not respond in a time frame that could have possibly prevented this tragedy. The public needs to know that we are always reviewing our policies and procedures to ensure we are in compliance with regulatory requirements and standards established by the American Public Power Association and national Electrical Safety Code, which requires a utility to comply with codes for the practical safeguarding of people, employees and property.
We are having discussions with public safety officials for better coordination between all first responders and the utility. The safety of our citizens is our top priority and we want to do all we can that will prevent, as much as possible another tragedy like this from happening again.
