Life begins return to normalcy after Ike

Twenty-four hours after the remnants of Hurricane Ike left thousands of Southeast Missourians in the dark, life was beginning to return to normal for area residents Monday.

The storm caused widespread power outages, wind-related damage to property and about 80 calls for help to the Cape Girardeau Fire Department.

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

As of 9:50 p.m. Monday, the number of customers without power stood at 8,634. That included 1,776 customers in Cape Girardeau County, 652 in Scott County and 139 in Stoddard County.

AmerenUE spokeswoman Susan Gallagher said about 100 employees were working to restore power in Southeast Missouri. That number is expected increase to 400 by today as more crews come to the area.

Gallagher said the reason for the high number of customers without power was three-fold.

"Windy conditions were still bringing limbs down on lines even after the storm had passed through," Gallagher said. "Rain-soaked soils cause trees to be uprooted and those trees fall on lines, again causing outages to occur after the storm. Third, sometimes we are forced to switch power around from one line to another to save the facility from becoming so overloaded customers can lose power even after a storm."

In the area serviced by the Ozark Border Electric Cooperative — Butler, Ripley, Carter, west Stoddard and north Dunklin counties in Missouri — 25,000 meters were without power Sunday. By 8:30 a.m. Monday, only 1,500 were still without power.

The storm injured three people in Butler County.

One man was injured when a tree crashed into his bedroom while he was sleeping in his Butler County home.

In another incident, firefighters had to rescue a man and woman from a mobile home near Poplar Bluff, Mo., after a tree crashed into it, pinning them inside. Other incidents of power outages and damage were reported across all of Southeast Missouri.

St. Louis County still had the greatest number of AmerenUE customers without power at 5,931, or about 1 percent of the company's customer base in the county. The heavy rain and high winds resulted in two deaths in the St. Louis area and one in Columbia, Mo., the Associated Press reported.

The Mississippi River 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.

AmerenUE spokesman Mike Cleary said one of the company's storm trailers has been set up at the Osage Community Centre in Cape Girardeau. Each storm trailer includes about $100,000 worth of materials needed to repair storm-damaged equipment. The power company currently has five storm trailers and one mobile command post.

Crews with Sikeston, Mo.-based SEMO Electric Cooperative reported that seven additional crews have joined the effort to restore 1,000 meters that were offline among its 5,600-square-mile customer base in Southeast Missouri on Monday morning. At its peak, the power company reported more than 3,000 meters without power.

"As soon as we saw that this was a major outage, additional crews were requested," said communications manager Glen Cantrell. "That gives us a total of 18 crews who will be working to restore power as quickly as possible."

Meanwhile, the Cape Girardeau public works department announced Monday its plan to collect trees and limbs downed by the remnants of Hurricane Ike. All debris from storm-damaged trees should be placed at residents' curbs for collection by the city's public works department. These collections will be made from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday until Sept. 26.

Residents who prefer to drop off their storm-related tree and limb debris may do so at the city compost holding area at 453 Cooper St. This option is available free of charge from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday until Sept. 27. Any resident choosing this option must show proof of address.

Non-city residents, contractors and others hired to remove limbs may haul debris to the transfer station, where fees will apply. The station, at 2500 S. Sprigg St., is open from 7 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Monday through Friday.

While residents were seeing their power restored, they saw no relief at the gas pump, despite a drop of more than 22 cents to $2.54 for wholesale gasoline prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude oil was down $4.60 a barrel at $94.34.

Even if prices return to pre-Ike levels, AAA of Missouri spokesman Mike Right expects the price at the pump to continue effecting motorists' plans. The price of a gallon of gasoline is $1.07 more compared to this time in 2007.

"Compared to last year, we've seen gas prices continue to rise, increasing the strain on the family budget," Right said. "And when gas increases, that means a family has less to spend on essential and non-essential items. I expect we will see that trend continue into 2009."

bblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137

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