2,500 in Cape without power

Southeast Missourian

About 2,500 AmerenUE customers in Cape Girardeau remained without power at 10:30 this morning after a line of thunderstorms with winds of up to 70 mph swept through Southeast Missouri in the early morning hours.

In AmerenUE's service area extending from St. Louis and Lake of the Ozarks into Southern Illinois, 33,000 customers did not have power at 10:30 this morning.

Most cities and towns in the region are dealing with downed tree limbs and power lines. In Cape Girardeau, assistant public works director Steve Cook said much of the damage is concentrated in the areas around Perryville Road and Stoddard Street. "There is a lot of tree damage," he said.

The city dispatched three crews, four high lifts and seven dump trucks. Cook said the cleanup could extend into next week.

He said no flooding was reported. The National Weather Service in Paducah measured 3.42 inches of precipitation in Cape Girardeau and 3.79 inches in Jackson.

The thunderstorms moved through the region beginning about 1 a.m. and continued until about 3 a.m. A mobile home was reported damaged in Doniphan, and in Dexter two telephone poles snapped in half and a roof was torn off a former grocery store.

AmerenUE spokesman Mike Cleary said Cape Girardeau was one of the cities hit hardest in the utility's service area. Downed power lines were the cause, not lightning strikes, he said. At the peak of the outage around 4:30 a.m., 6,400 customers in Cape Girardeau were without power. The outages were scattered throughout the city.

Cape Girardeau County highway administrator Scott Bechtold said all the county roads were passable this morning despite downed trees in the road. Most of the downed trees were concentrated in the area from Lake Girardeau to north of Millersville, he said.

Cleary said AmerenUE sent additional crews from Potosi and Park Hills to help in Cape Girardeau. "We are telling people to have patience, and if they see a line down to call us. It may still be live," Cleary said. The number of call in case of a safety concern is (800) 552-7583.