Dramatic footage shows a transformer exploding into sparks on a Missouri street amid the extreme cold — knocking out power as winds from a deadly bomb cyclone struck the area.
The electrical box blasted into a fireworks-like flash Thursday in the Kansas City suburb of Liberty as nearby buildings plunged into darkness and bone-chilling temperatures, according to police dash camera footage.
Wild winds from the eastern-churning Christmas weekend storm blew out power to more than 2,000 customers in the snowed- and iced-in area, according to electric service company Evergy.
Crews rushed to the explosion, on Highway 291 near Kent Street, to restore power as wind chills reached a dangerous minus 32 degrees in the Kansas City area, the Liberty Police Department said.
On Friday, the wind chill was forecast to hit a bitterly cold low of minus 24 degrees in parts of Missouri.
As the storm blew east, it triggered a state of emergency in New York on Friday morning and left two-thirds of the country under some form of extreme weather alert due to high winds, flooding and dramatic temperature plunges.