CREWS WORK ROUND-THE-CLOCK TO RESTORE SERVICE

Severe storms ravaged electrical and cable power lines and downed hundreds of trees during the last three weeks. For some of us, services we take for granted such as electricity disappeared for hours.

Cape Girardeau public works crews as well as crews from Union Electric and TCI Cable TV put in hundreds of overtime hours to restore service and clean up debris. Sure, these people get paid for their work. But this string of electrical storms forced round-the-clock efforts. These people went above and beyond their "job" to clean up this mess.

City of Cape Girardeau crews are still picking up downed trees around town. Tree parts are being fed into a chipper at Shawnee Park. Most of the street personnel as well as sewer and storm water workers have been busy taking care of high water or wind damage caused by the recent storms. Nearly 40 public works employees have been involved in the cleanup effort.

Union Electric crews have also been putting in a lot of overtime as well. After the June 4 storm, the utility company had more than 100 employees working in various capacities to restore power. Many of the outside crews worked from that Friday night to Monday morning. The crews were out again last Wednesday.

Lack of power is more than an inconvenience to many people who rely on medical life-support equipment. When people notify the electric company of their medical equipment needs, UE records their circuits and makes power restoration for these people a priority. With batteries and generator auxiliary power sources, most of these people can get by a few hours without electricity. But the rash of recent storms has cut off electricity for extended periods as uprooted trees have become tangled in power lines at numerous locations.

The storms also downed cable TV lines as well, with crews working overtime to return service.

All these people deserve a thank you for their extra efforts in these recent storms. Even though the cleanup work continues, most of us were soon back in business in terms of electricity, cable and access to city streets. These efforts to restore service represent a job well done.