More than 12,000 without power in Cape County

More than 12,000 utility customers across Cape Girardeau County lost power overnight and officials in Cape Girardeau and Jackson opened warming centers for people able to leave their homes.

The worst hit areas of Jackson were north and Main Street and west of Hope Street, said Richard Knaup, emergency operations director for Cape Girardeau County. Between 5,500 and 6,000 residents of Jackson have no power, Knaup said, and the city has only four working electrical circuits.

"Jackson is in bad shape and it is not getting better," Knaup said.

AmerenUE reported through its Web site that more than 6,800 electric customers in Cape Girardeau are without power, with scattered outages through the remainder of its service area in Southeast Missouri.

The worst hit parts of Cape Girardeau are in the central West end and the south side of the city, said Brian Shaffer, battalion chief with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department.

Newer subdivisions with buried power lines are in better shape.

The county emergency operations center is working on emergency generators, as is the county jail, Knaup said.

The warming centers in each city are:

The Osage Community Centre in Cape Girardeau, 1625 N. Kingshighway. The center opened at 7:45 a.m.

The Salvation Army at 701 Good Hope St. in Cape Girardeau. The center opened at 8:15 a.m.

The Arena Building, 401 Kiwanis Drive, opened at 8:15 a.m.

The Bavarian Halle, 6155 Highway 61 N. in Fruitland.

Immaculate Conception School at the intersection of Hope Street and E. Madison Street in Jackson.

Crossroads church, 4400 E. Jackson Blvd. in Jackson.

As of this morning none of the warming centers were prepared to hold people overnight. The decision on whether to do so will be made later in the day, Knaup said. If that becomes necessary, the Red Cross is prepared to bring cots, he added.

Anyone seeking refuge should bring personal items such as medications, a sleeping bag or lawn chair to be comfortable.

The freezing rain that fell throughout the region since about 10 a.m. Monday was weighing down trees and power lines across the county and region.

"I am speaking for the city of Jackson that the most conservative, earliest time that power might start being restored is noon," Knaup said. "And that is very, very iffy. The bulk will probably not start seeing power restored until after dark."

The crash of tree limbs and snapping tree trunks was common in downtown Cape Girardeau early Tuesday morning. Trees blocked Independence Street near city hall, emergency crews were kept busy with a constant stream of calls to outlying parts of town and the city leaders were urging anyone who could stay home to do so.

Bloomfield Road, Perryville Road, Country Club Lane and Big Bend Boulevard all were creating problems as overhanging trees fell into the roadway overnight.

In Jackson, major city arteries were impassable in many locations, Knaup said.

North Farmington Road was impassable from Main Street to Route D, he said.

In the rural sections of Cape Girardeau County, roads are very slick and many roads are next to impassable, Knaup said.

As of 8 a.m., no major streets were impassable in Cape Girardeau but many side streets were needing crews to remove downed limbs, said Brian Shaffer with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department.

With the number of alarms increasing, the city brought in firefighters for extra duty overnight and will keep the crews on hand until the worst is over, Shaffer said.

The department is responding to calls as they come in, he said.

Just before 7:30 a.m. 6,474 customers in the Cape Girardeau area were without power, said AmerenUE spokesman Tim Fox.

Fox said the outages came from ice snapping trees and power lines.

"An ice storm is about the worst thing that can happen to utilities," Fox said. "Imagine climbing a pole that's covered in ice."

The utility has brought in one of four disaster trailers with supplies for crews, stationed at the Osage Community Centre.

Extra crews are being sent down from St. Louis to assist local crews, Fox said. Ameren hopes to have power back on in Cape Girardeau some time today. Fox said about a quarter of customers in the 63701 zip code are without power.

For updates check back at www.semissourian.com or read Wednesday's Southeast Missourian.