ST. LOUIS — Strong storms blew through the St. Louis area with winds up to 70 miles per hour and heavy downpours Thursday night.
Numerous thunderstorms developed in the area. Some were severe with wind gusts to 70 mph with some power poles down. Power outages have been reported in St. Louis County, St. Charles County and Lincoln County.
At its peak, more than 100,000 customers were without power in the Bi-state. As of 2 p.m. Friday, about 21,000 people were still without power across Missouri and another 2,000 in Illinois, Ameren reported. A major portion of those outages — about 17,000 — were in St. Louis and St. Louis County.
Kevin Anders, vice president of operations and technical services at Ameren Missouri, said Friday afternoon they expect to have 98% of the outages fixed by the end of the day Saturday.
If you see a downed wire, treat it as if it is a live wire and keep your distance. Call first responders and your electrical provider to have the line repaired.
Ameren has called in assistance from outside agencies to help get the power back on in the coming days. Anders said the repair workers were on 17-hour shifts.
The spokesman said they were able to restore power to about 70,000 customers within 24 hours by finding the reason for the outage, and rerouting power from adjacent power lines while crews worked to fix the damage.
For the most up-to-date information about your particular outage, Ameren suggests making sure the contact information is updated on your billing account.
A cold front is approaching from the north that should bring some relief from this week's heat. An excessive heat warning expired for most of the metro St. Louis area Thursday evening.
The weekend looks to be cooler and less humid.
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