ST. LOUIS — Ameren crews across the bi-state are working to restore power, after severe thunderstorms with damaging winds hit both Missouri and Illinois hard over the weekend.
Thousands of people in both states have been without power for days.
Ameren Missouri officials said they're anticipating power to be fully restored by Wednesday night.
Over 38,000 Ameren customers in Missouri were still without power Monday around 5 p.m. Over in Illinois, 15,000 were still without power.
The weekend's strong storms impacted people all over, now many are hoping the air conditioning will kick back on before the days get even hotter.
Beverly and Bob Dimmitt's power went out when the storms hit Saturday afternoon.
"We were watching the Cardinals and they were beating the Yankees big time and we were really excited about it, and then about 3:30 that afternoon, everything cut off," Beverly said.
It's been a long and hot couple of days for the Dimmitts, who were still without power on Monday.
"It's very unsettling to seniors, more than when we were younger, we could kind of say, 'Hey, we'll get through this.' and we're still saying, 'We'll get through this,'" Beverly said.
The 90- and 92-year-old are two of the many, who have been living in the dark since Saturday at their assisted living home in North County.
Beverly said she was trying to get a hold of Ameren every day, almost hourly, for updates.
"They're more inclined to take care of an area that may be worth 20,000 people or 2,000 rather than an area of 181. Not realizing the importance of this particular area," she said.
Since Bob is on oxygen, Beverly said it's not easy for the couple to just pick up and relocate too somewhere cooler.
"It's a process to get him out of his chair into his scooter and over there," she said.
The Dimmitts aren't alone though.
According to Launders Wince, with Ameren Missouri, thousands across the state lost power due to the severe thunderstorm.
"This is a really major storm for us for this year. This is storm season, and this is Missouri. Any time you get warm weather like this, there's potential for heavy storms, so it's nothing our folks aren't used to working through," he said.
Wince said at the peak of the weekend's storms, they had about 130,000 customers without power.
By Monday afternoon, he said, they had restored power to 75,000 people.
"It's been a challenge for us. Our vegetation crews have been working really diligently to get through all the brush and downed trees. Some of these areas it's very thick and difficult to get to because it's four to six hours for some of our folks to actually get a path cut, so our line crews can safely work through the power outages," Wince said.
He said more than 1,000 Ameren workers are currently on the ground and they have had extra help from states as far as Ohio and New York.
Wince said they are just asking for your patience.
"I know it's frustrating. I know it's challenging this holiday weekend. Who wants to experience a power outage at this time? We're going to do the best we can to get everyone restored as quickly as possible," he said.
Ameren officials are asking people to stay away from clearing the brush from your homes.
If you see downed lines, officials said to stay away from them, but also report them. To report downed power lines to Ameren Missouri, click here. To report downed lines to Ameren Illinois, click here.