Eye over Cape as Ike blows through

In Cape Girardeau, sirens heralded Hurricane Ike's faltering path and power outages dominated the day.

By 8 a.m. thousands were without electricity. Repair crews faced repeat outages when falling trees redamaged fixed lines. Trees blocked streets and alleys and smashed a few cars; winds gusting up to 70 miles an hour tore shingles away and peeled off two Fruitland trailers' metal roofs. An Interstate 55 sign was hurtled across the roadway.

Firefighters in the city of Cape Girardeau fielded nearly 80 calls, most storm related, according to Capt. Brad Dillow. A typical day sees eight to 10 runs for all four stations, he said.

He said the city experienced widespread power outages and wind-related damage.

Don Schuette, Jackson's director of electric utilities, said the power outages started at 6 a.m. and began to peak right after 8 a.m., with an estimated 5,000 without service.

"We lost our main transmission feed. Then we had some smaller outages. We've had some trees uprooted and blown over," he said.

About 1,500 customers on the city's west side had repeated problems, he said, because after each of "four or five" repairs, another tree would fall and disrupt power again.

He said power was completely restored by 1:30 p.m.

"We had a lot of big trees uprooted and down," he said. The city's north and northwest side took the brunt of the damage. "I saw several homes and several cars damaged. Hard to say how much. I saw several places tore up pretty good."

He said the eye of the storm passed right over this area.

According to Associated Press reports, rain in other areas caused flash floods, leading to worries over river levels for the Missouri and Mississippi. Some parts of the state were inundated with 7 inches of rain. Flooded roads and some state highways were closed. Emergency workers reported several water rescues in the St. Louis area.

The storm is being blamed for two Missouri deaths, both near St. Louis. Joan Dankner, 49, of Ladue, died after being struck by a tree limb. An unidentified man was found dead in his flooded backyard in University City. His name has not been released.

In Delta, volunteer firefighter Ralph Parker said an estimated 10 roads are blocked by downed trees or power lines. He said firefighters were called out at 8 a.m. and continued to patrol the streets, calling in damage reports and guarding live wires.

"Still parts of our district don't have power," said Delta fire chief Alvin Frank Jr. late Sunday. Roads, he said, were "either all totally open or partially open."

SEMO Electric Cooperative was hard hit among its 5,600 square mile customer base in Southeast Missouri, with 1,500 meters still offline by late Sunday, according to spokesman Glen Cantrell. He said many are isolated customers.

"If people are without power, they need to call us," he said. The toll-free number is 800-813-5230.

He said 18 crews have been assigned to get people reconnected, but because so many individual homes were affected, the cooperative is asking people to be patient.

Power outages statewide peaked at 9:45 a.m., with 107,000 AmerenUE customers were without power in Missouri, including 6,300 in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties. Twelve hours later, those figures had fallen to 40,512 and an estimated 4,000 in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties.

In Illinois, where more than 16,000 Ameren customers went to bed without power, fewer than 1,000 were in the company's service areas of Union and Alexander counties.

Now emergency workers are watching for the rain-driven flooding.

The Meramec River is expected to reach major flood stage at Valley Park and Arnold, near St. Louis. The rising Mississippi River is expected to cause the Meramec to reach an expected crest of 42 feet Wednesday — 18 feet above flood stage.

The Mississippi is expected to crest at 41 feet in St. Louis on Thursday and get as high as 42 feet at Cape Girardeau by Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

Southeast Missourian writer Rudi Keller contributed to this report.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

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