INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – Transformers were exploding and causing fires, power crews were working round the clock, and chainsaws were buzzing. Ten years ago Monday, January 30th, was a rough one for many in the metro left to freeze as much indoors as they did outdoors.
Hundreds of thousands of people were without electricity.
“We moved out to my parents house out in the country because they have a wood burning stove and warmed up water on it, bathed with it and ate off the wood burning stove for a week and a half at least,” recalled Dan Torsch.
It’s something Dan Torsch can smile about now in the sun, without a coat, his friend in stocking feet.
“To think that it was the same time period and we got this weather compared to that, it’s unreal,” Torsch said.
So far this year, Independence Power and Light’s had it pretty easy in part due to some changes that can be traced back to dramatically different weather we were getting ten years ago when 25,000 Independence customers, which was about half, lost power. Power wasn’t fully restored until February 11th. Independence P&L applied for FEMA grants to put power lines underground. Now, 75-percent of customers have underground lines, including Robert Tuckness.
“I don’t believe I’ve had a power outage since,” Tuckness said.
Leon Daggett from I.P.L. says for that reason he no longer fears big storms.
“When it happens everywhere else, I feel sorry for them, but it’s not my problem, and I smile, so we kinda like that,” Daggett said.
The City of Independence applied for seven FEMA grants, totaling about $8 million. They had to match the grants with 25-percent of the total. Since power crews haven’t had to deal with outages there they’re working on maintenance issues.
