Circuit breaker causes power outage in areas of Sikeston

SIKESTON, Mo. - An explosion from a circuit breaker inside one of Sikeston Power Plant's substations caused a power outage for two-thirds of the city Wednesday evening. At around 8:12 p.m. the the transformer exploded in the northwest part of the city, causing a subsequent fire in the substation, according to Sgt. Jim McMillen of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety.

Public safety officials quickly arrived on the scene and extinguished the fire 20 minutes later. Though the full extent of the damage is not known at this time, McMillen said about one-fourth of the substation sustained significant damage.

McMillen said the Sikeston School District several area churches including Miner Baptist church, Fellowship Baptist Church and Shady Acres Church of Christ offered transportaion and housing for those affected by the outage.

By 11:12 p.m. power was restored to most affected customers. One-fourth of Sikeston was still without power in the early morning hours of today, according to McMillen.