Perry County tornado rated an EF4; utility providers mostly recovered from storms

The National Weather Service confirmed Saturday the tornado that killed one person and demolished dozens of homes near Perryville, Missouri, was an EF4 twister — the second-most powerful on the Fujita scale.

According to an Associated Press report, meteorologist Rick Shankland said the tornado carried winds up to 180 mph.

Shankland told Perryville police the tornado was six-tenths of a mile wide and traveled 50.4 miles, the longest track in 25 years.

Also, area utilities providers say they mostly have recovered from last week’s severe storms.

Kevin Anders, assistant vice president of Ameren Missouri, said Friday although 11,500 customers were without power at the height of the storm, crews restored power to 11,000 within 24 hours.

The wind in areas to the south where no tornadoes formed still was strong enough to down power lines. In total, 60 utility poles had to be replaced, Anders said, in places such as Anniston, Lilbourn, Matthews and East Prairie, Missouri.

Steve Elsea, manager of member services for Citizens Electric Corp., said Friday in their service area around Perry County, about 80 distribution poles had to be replaced.

“And about 12 to 15 transmission structures, including some steel structures that must have taken a direct hit [from the tornado],” he said. “A 138,000-volt transmission structure was bent like aluminum.”

He said at the worst point in the event, 2,247 customers were without power, but that as of 4 p.m. Friday, everyone who could have their power restored had been restored. Some homes and businesses, however, were destroyed.

Anders and Elsea both thanked crews who came from neighboring communities to aid them in restoring power.

“And we’d like to extend our appreciation to various emergency management agencies and law enforcement authorities,” Elsea said, “especially for keeping people away from areas with downed power lines so that we could restore services in those areas. They were a huge help.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

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