Thousands still without power in Southeast Missouri

Read more about conditions outside Cape Girardeau County.

The National Weather Service said this morning that temperatures will remain cold and more winter precipitation may move in this weekend.

Some parts of Bollinger County may not have power until Wednesday afternoon, according to a Black River Electric Co-Op spokesman, while other electric companies are not making predictions about when power may be restored.

AmerenUE is reporting 7,649 people without power in the 63701 and 63703 ZIP code areas, which cover Cape Girardeau. In Jackson, about 949 AmerenUE customers are without power.

"Cape and Dexter were the two hardest hit in Southeast Missouri," said Mike Cleary, a spokesman for AmerenUE. In Dexter, 1,595 people didn't have power as a result of Monday's ice storm.

AmerenUE brought in about 450 linemen and tree trimmers from around Park Hills, Mo., and Saint Louis to help crews restore power. Two disaster trailers were deployed, one to the Osage Community Centre and the other to Cape First Assembly of God Church, with supplies for crews. A mobile command post, with equipment to help coordinate efforts, is also parked at the Osage center.

"Ice is more of a problem than snow because it sticks to tree limbs. It just lingers and continues to be a problem. We get one thing fixed and then new problems keep coming," said Cleary.

Around Fruitland, northern Cape Girardeau County and southern Perry County about 3,100 people are without power, according to Barb Casper, manager of member services for Citizen's Electric Corp. Casper said Tuesday morning there were no outages in northern Perry County or Ste. Genevieve.

"It's slow because trees and lines continue to fall. We are trying to deal with roads that are blocked by fallen trees," she said. Contractor crews have been hired to help with the efforts.

Eight thousand Black River Electric customers were without power in Reynold, Wayne and Bollinger counties, said John Singleton, manager of marketing.

In Scott County, emergency management director Joel Evans reported before noon that power was out in several pockets around the county and the situation was getting worse.

In Jackson, an estimated 4,000 customers are without power out of 6,500 meters, said Chuck Reed, electric operations manager for Jackson public utilities.

In Jackson, the uptown area and to the north looked like a frozen tornado zone. Tree limbs snapped all throughout the night.

Particularly hard hit were some of the old neighborhoods near the park where tree limbs fell on cars, houses and power lines. Trees on the courthouse lawn are weeping with several clusters of branches on the ground. Electric workers were trying to restore power to thousands who lost electricity between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Wal-Mart remained open, but most businesses were shut down. The main highways were drivable, but many side streets and driveways were

treacherous.

Electric company officials recommended people report outages if possible, and said people should make sure to talk to a company representative if there is a downed line.

"People should treat every downed lines as if its energized," Singleton said.

AmerenUE's Web site encourages people to unplug their computers, televisions, stereos and other equipment that "may be damaged if a power surge occurs when power is restored."

Cleary said people can also use the company's Web site, www.ameren.com, to enter their home phone number to see if they have power at home.

"That way, if they're at work and their power was out in the morning, they can see if its been restored, he said.

lbavolek@semissourian.com

335-6611 ext. 123

Bob Miller contributed to this report.

To report an outage or downed line

AmerenUE: 800-552-7583

Black River Electric Co-op: 800-392-4711 or 888-461-2667

Citizens Electric: 877-876-3511

Jackson Utilities & Public Works: 573-243-2300