Energy companies across Kansas suspended rolling power blackouts Tuesday, but asked customers to continue conserving energy as the state remains in the deep freeze.
Evergy, Midwest Energy and Sunflower Electric had imposed rolling blackouts on thousands of customers Monday and early Tuesday. They notified customers at mid-morning Tuesday that the order to impose blackouts had been lifted by the Southwest Power Pool, which oversees utilities in 14 states.
The blackouts came as temperatures dropped to minus 17 in the Wichita area overnight Monday. Highs on Tuesday were not expected to reach 20 in much of the state and parts of central Kansas were forecast to receive 1 to 3 inches of snow by Wednesday.
The cold shut down most activities in Kansas on Tuesday. Many schools — from elementary to universities including the University of Kansas and Kansas State University— called off both remote and in-person classes. Many sports and court functions also were postponed, and all flights out of Manhattan Regional Airport were canceled.