POWER OUTAGE AFFECTS 2,400 IN SCOTT CITY

SCOTT CITY -- A burned jumper line is being blamed for an early morning power outage that affected about 2,400 Union Electric Co. customers in Scott City.

Union Electric spokesman Virgil Chirnside said the jumper was on a 34,500-volt distribution line that runs between Union Electric's Viaduct Court Distribution Center in southwest Cape Girardeau and East Nash Road, where the fault occurred.

Chirnside said when the jumper burned at about 5 a.m. Tuesday it caused safety relays on the line to Scott City to open, knocking out power to the East Nash Road industrial complex and most of Scott City.

The power failure left people in electrically heated homes and those that use electric fans to distribute heat from gas furnaces scrambling for blankets and extra jackets. Those that had gas kitchen stoves were able to cook breakfast and use the extra burners to generate some heat in the kitchen area.

The low at Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport Tuesday was 23 degrees.

"We were able to restore the service to about 50 percent of the affected customers by around 7 a.m.," said Chirnside. "But due to the heavy demand for electricity because of the cold weather, we had to restore power in sections of town, so it was around 11:30 a.m. before everyone was back on."

Scott City Clerk Nona Walls said the lights dimmed and the furnace tried to come on just before the power went off at her home. She said service was restored around 8:30 a.m., but the lights and heat did not come back on at Scott City Hall until about 10:30 a.m.

Jim Sturm, who works at Roth Hardware in east Scott City, said the power at his house and at the hardware store did not come on until about 10:30 a.m.

Chirnside said the burned jumper line was not caused by the icy weather.