Explosion causes power outage in areas of Sikeston for eight hours

SIKESTON, Mo. -- An explosion of a circuit breaker inside one of Sikeston Power Plant's substations caused a power outage for two-thirds of the city Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.

At 8:12 p.m. many Sikeston residents felt a large explosion in the northwest part of the city. A circuit breaker blew and caused a malfunction, which started a fire in the substation, according to Sgt. Jim McMillen of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety.

Public safety officials 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 and several area churches offered transportation and housing for those affected by the outage.

By 11:12 p.m. power was restored to most affected customers. Crews restored power to all its customers by 4 a.m.