SEMO Electric Cooperative reports under 500 remain without power

Less than 500 customers of the SEMO Electric Cooperative remain without power as of this morning, according to an email sent to media outlets by SEMO's communication manager Glenn Cantrell.At the height of power outages in the wake of the January ice storm, 14,000 cooperative customers were without power. Cantrell's email said only 457 were without power just before 9 a.m. SEMO services parts of Cape Girardeau, Scott, Stoddard, Bollinger, New Madrid and Mississippi counties."The north Lilbourn area is expected to be back on today. Areas in southern Mississippi and Stoddard Counties are getting closer to having power fully restored. These areas were the hardest hit areas in our system. In southern Stoddard county, most of our poles had to be replaced," Cantrell wrote in the email.

"SEMO Electric's goal is to have all members homes back on with power by the close of business Monday."  The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives reports 6,497 members without power this morning, with 5,500 of those being customers of the Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric Cooperative based in Hayti.