Thousands Still Without Power
***UPDATE THURSDAY 6:40 P.M.***Co-Mo Electric has below five thousand customers without power. Crews tell us they aren’t sure if they’re going to have everyone fully restored by Friday. They say it could last into the weekend.***UPDATE THURSDAY 1:30 P.M.***- Howard Electric is reporting, as of 11:20 a.m., outages have been reduced to 485 members.- Boone Electric has 266 customers without power with 113 active outages.- Co-Mo Electric has 6,537 customers without power, approximately half of their peak during the storm on Tuesday. Crews from 19 Missouri cooperatives and Ameren Missouri are assisting to restore power. Officials say customers should prepare for an extended outage with no electricity through Friday and maybe into the weekend. A warming shelter may be opened by the Moniteau County Emergency Management in Jamestown, but details have not been finalized.- Callaway Electric has four customers without power, and Three Rivers has six without power.***UPDATE THURSDAY 9:57 A.M.***The numbers of those without power continue to fluctuate. Right now there are around 8,000 Co-Mo Electric customers in the dark. Boone Electric Cooperative has around 1,000 customers without power. Ameren Missouri has less than 10 customers without power. Callaway Electric Cooperative has less than five customers impacted. Three Rivers Electric Co-op has just a few members in the dark.***UPDATE 4:50 P.M.***Line crews hope to have all electrical lines repaired and power restored to most of Mid-Missouri by tonight, however some crews say it may not happen until Thursday.Electric companies are bringing in extra crews from across Missouri to help restore power because some residents have not had power since early Tuesday morning. Line crews say they are working as fast as they can.”Ice and snow build-up, the snow that we ended up having has led to a lot of ice and that’s caused the lines to slap together in many cases,” said Chris Rohfing of Boone Electric Cooperative.Rohfing explains that they have even had lines wrapped around each other, which trip the breaker, and replacing lines in general is not a fast process. He says the problem they are facing is that as soon as one line is repaired, another line a short distance away breaks. Right now, crews are not experiencing widespread outages, rather it’s just individual homes or streets.While residents have been getting angry with the companies because they have had no power for more than 24 hours, line crews tell ABC 17 News that just because people have seen their trucks out near them, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are trying to restore the power. “If anything gets in that line between the substation and the very last person on the end of the line, you have lost power and it could be the outage that’s caused by something that could be ten miles away from your house,” said Rohfing.Crews are urging everyone that sees a line to stay away and always assume it is hot. They ask people to report it to 911 because you may not be able to get through to the company.***ORIGINAL STORY***Thousands are still without power in Mid-Missouri after Tuesday’s winter storm.Ameren Missouri is reporting outages in Boone, Cooper, Callaway, Camden, Howard, Miller, Moniteau and Randolph counties. For those areas customer outages are below 1,000.As of 12 p.m., Boone Electric Cooperative has 4,665 customers without power and crews are working 442 service outages. They ask anyone without electricity to call 573-449-4181 to report an outage. Consolidated Electric Cooperative, Intercounty Electric Cooperative, Lewis County, and Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative have sent linemen to assist in Boone County. Two Columbia Water & Light line crews will assist Boone Electric with their efforts Wednesday. Columbia Water & Light says all of their customers now have power restored. If anyone experiences a power outage or needs to report a downed utility line, they should call 573-875-2555.Three Rivers Electric Cooperative reports about 900 customers without power. If you still need to report an outage, call 573-644-9000.Callaway Electric Cooperative has about 290 customers without power. Call 573-642-3326 to report an outage.Howard Cooperative are bringing in crews from Black River Coop, Cuivre River Coop, Citizens Electric assist their workers. They hope to have all service restored by Thursday.Co-Mo Electric Cooperative has over 10,000 customers currently without power. They are bringing in eight additional crews from across the state to focus on the areas of Prairie Home/Jamestown, Pilot Grove/Otterville, California, Versailles, Stover and Gravois Mills.
