Crews restore power to Remington Nature Center

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- A powerful storm earlier this week caused a power outage at a local nature center which lasted over two days.

The Remington Nature Center, located at 1502 McArthur Dr., in St. Joseph, Missouri, closed on Wednesday, March 5, after losing power following a winter storm and high winds. Power was eventually restored after midnight on Friday, March 7.

Remington Nature Center manager Sarah Elder spoke with Evergy crews, who told her issues with a transformer caused by high winds likely caused the outage.

“Just before 11 p.m. on Tuesday night is when we lost it (power),” Elder said. “and then, of course, I came in the next morning and (it was) total darkness.”

Elder said she did not realize how much ambient sound could be heard in the nature center until the power was out.

“The aquarium’s going, rustling of the animals in their bedding, until there’s nothing, and it’s like, ‘Wow, it’s really quiet in here,’” she said.

Some of the animals needed to be moved Wednesday afternoon as temperatures began to drop inside the building. The Remington Nature Center is home to fish, tortoises, turtles, snakes, axolotls and bearded dragons.

“We do try to keep them as warm as we can,” Elder said. “and with the temperature dropping in the building, we moved them into our reptile room, which is a fully enclosed room. So even with the power out, it was holding temperature better than any other spot.”

Elder said all the animals are healthy and back in their normal homes, and she praised the efforts of the Evergy crews who worked to restore power to the nature center.

“Blessings to those guys for being out and working as best they could under pretty horrific conditions, especially with the wind gusts in the 50 to 60 mile an hour range or 70 depending on where you were in the state,” Elder said.