60 mph winds leave thousands without power across KC metro area Monday night

High winds blowing through the Kansas City area Monday evening knocked out power to thousands of homes and the National Weather Service said the damaging winds are expected to continue across the metro.

Just under 13,000 homes were without power by 9 p.m. Monday evening, according to an Evergy outage map. As of 9:10 p.m., about 11,000 customers were still in the dark, with ongoing outages concentrated in Kansas City.

As the line of storms seen across the metro earlier today passes through St. Joseph and travels north to Iowa, big gusts of wind continued to make their mark on northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas, according to the NWS. A high wind warning is in effect in the area until 10 p.m.

Along with downed power lines, residents can expect to see felled trees or tree limbs. The NWS recommends sticking to the lower floors of homes and avoiding windows, as well as limiting travel throughout the night.

Wind gusts reached 60 mph Monday night.Further storms and rainfall are not expected to hit the Kansas City area Monday night, but strong winds will continue until about midnight, according to the NWS.