Significant power outages reported in Cole, Camden counties
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Several power outages were reported Monday evening into Tuesday morning in Mid-Missouri, and Pulaski and Phelps counties saw significant outages after a round of storms rolled through the area.
Last night a tornado warning was issued for Pulaski and Phelps counties, and several customers in those areas are waking up Tuesday morning without power. According to the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives outage map, 3,763 members are without power in Pulaski County. 363 of which are with Gasconade Electric Cooperative, and 3,400 of which are with Laclede Electric Co-op.
In Phelps County, 1,547 members are without power as of 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. Gasconade Electric Cooperative is reporting 536 members without power, Intercounty Electric Cooperative Association is reporting 1,008 members, and Crawford Electric Cooperative is reporting 3 outages.
Camden County had a significant outage at 515 outages reported last night, and this morning 99 members are still without power, according to the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives outage map.
There are 366 power outages reported in Cole County for customers of Three Rivers Electric Cooperative, now only 9 members remain without power.
District Supervisor for Three Rivers Electric Kevin Prenger said six crews were spread out Monday night working to restore power. Prenger said he anticipates most power to be restored to customers in Cole County by midnight. However, he noted some customers could lack power Tuesday morning, due to broken poles that take longer to repair.
Prenger said crews work to restore power in the areas where the largest amount of people are effected first, and then move onto smaller sections. He said weather conditions including rain which can reduce visibility, along with working in the dark can sometimes slow the process down.
"When it's sunny and daylight outside, you can drive down the road and very easily see the lines or trees or any of that problem you know that arise," Prenger said. "So, these guys instead of you know, driving out through some of the fields and stuff like that they're walking, which just adds to the timeline."
Three Rivers Electric Cooperative wrote on Facebook that "Crews are working outages in Brazito/Wardsville and Drake area."
Strong storms rolled through Mid-Missouri on Monday afternoon. A tornado warning was issued for Cole and Osage counties after 6 p.m. and it expired
Additionally there were there were 120 outages reported in Boone County near Ashland at its peak. The outage map states it was reported at 6:10 p.m. Monday, but Boone County's Ameren outages were resolved before 7:40 p.m. according to Ameren's website.
Prenger said if people come across a downed power line, they should not approach it and report the line immediately.
"You know, keep a safe distance, don't go up and try to you know see what's going on or move the lines or anything like that," Prenger said. "Definitely just stay away from them and give us a call."
