Citizens Electric reports 1,000 without power as of 1 p.m. today; 50 utility poles down

Citizens Electric is reporting that approximately 1,000 customers were still without power as of 1 p.m. Wednesday morning. Most customers, according to a news release, should have their power restored today. But some isolated areas may not get power restored for a couple of days.

At at the peak of the story at 10:10 p.m., 5,126 meters were without power, according to a news release issued by Citizens Electric.

An aerial patrol began assessing the damage throughout the service territory, which includes all of Ste. Genevieve and Perry Counties as well as portions of St. Francois and Cape Girardeau Counties. Citizens report at least 50 utility poles destroyed. The full extent of the damage will not be known until the assessment is completed.

Most of Ste. Genevieve County has been restored, but a great deal of damage remains in Perry and Cape Girardeau Counties. While the widespread storms caused destruction throughout the area, much of the damage was centralized in "the bottoms" next to the Mississippi River in Perry County.

According to Operations Vice President Ron Klein, people living in Belgique, Menfro and the McBride areas should be prepared to be without power for a minimum of a couple days. The release said most people should have their power restored today.

At around 4 p.m. today, 1,072 members will lose power while repairs are being made in the Altenburg District. This includes properties located in Wittenburg, Altenburg, Brazeau, Frohna, Farrar and New Wells, Mo. The outage is expected to last 90 minutes.

Additional contractor crews will be helping Citizens Electric in these restoration efforts. CEC has contacted the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives (AMEC) to request assistance from neighboring electric cooperatives.

Citizens Electric wants to remind the public to stay away from downed power lines and always assume they are energized.