THOUSANDS LOSE POWER AFTER STORM SWEEPS AREA

A wind-whipped, lightning-laced storm drenched the area early Tuesday.

It caused widespread power outages that left more than 4,000 AmerenUE and Jackson municipal power customers without power for several hours.

In Jackson, a power outage knocked out the city's computer system that monitors water distribution.

As a result, a leaking fire hydrant went unnoticed until daybreak. By that time, nearly all of the water had drained from a 300,000-gallon water tank near Interstate 55, Jackson city officials said. The city has three water towers.

The affected tower was the one closest to the fire-hydrant leak on Mulberry Street.

Water pressure is expected to remain low for several days while the city continues to pump water back into the tank.

In Cape Girardeau, a power outage left much of the police station in the dark when a gasoline-powered emergency generator failed. But battery power kept the 911 emergency system running. It also powered emergency lights in the station.

Power was out at the police station from 12:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m.

The storm hit the area around midnight. It dumped over an inch of rain on Jackson. Cape Girardeau received over 2 inches of rain in an hour and a half.

Outages caused by lightning and tree limbs falling on power lines left about 3,300 AmerenUE customers without power. The outages began about 12:30 a.m., said AmerenUE supervisor Dave Goehring.

"We had most everybody back on by 5 a.m.," he said.

The AmerenUE outages affected customers in Cape Girardeau, Scott City, Chaffee and an area west of Jackson.

In Cape Girardeau, power was knocked out to nearly 1,000 customers in the Northfield area and a similar number in the South Kingshighway and Bloomfield Road area.

More than 600 customers were in the dark in the area around the police station, Goehring said.

It could have been worse. "We feel fortunate," he said. "It was a minor storm."

Winds were clocked as high as 38 mph in Jackson.

The storm knocked trees and tree limbs into power lines in Jackson, causing power outages for about 1,000 customers served by the city's utility system.

"We had about three of our 16 circuits out as a result of the storm," said Jim Roach, Jackson's public works director.

The power outages in Jackson occurred around midnight. Power was restored gradually over the next several hours. Power was restored to the last of the three damaged circuits by 4 a.m. Roach said.

The storm damaged trees in the Jackson City Park and other areas of the city, he said.

In Cape Girardeau, public works crews hauled away trees and tree limbs downed by the storm.

"We will pick up storm-damaged limbs probably through Thursday," said Doug Leslie, Cape Girardeau's public works director.

The city advises residents to place storm-damaged limbs along the curb. City crews will then pick them up at no extra charge.

Cape Girardeau residents are encouraged to notify the public works office at 334-9151 if they have limbs to be picked up.