Tree damage cuts power to hundreds of Ameren customers in Jefferson City
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
About 370 Ameren Missouri customers in east Jefferson City were without electricity Wednesday afternoon.
The utility's outage map showed 372 customers without power in three outages from Highway 50 in the north to the Moreau River in the south at 5:30 p.m. The map showed the largest outage was caused by damage from trees.
Ameren expected power to be restored around 6 p.m.
It was part of a string of outages throughout the day as high winds raced over Mid-Missouri.
Strong winds toppled trees in the Lake of the Ozarks area Wednesday afternoon, causing them to fall through power lines and break poles, an electric cooperative official said.
About 1,000 electrical cooperative members were without power at the outages' peak but many had their electricity restored by mid-afternoon, said Mike Sutherland, vice president of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. However, Sutherland said continued high winds were posing challenges for crews working to restore power.
More than 1,000 Ameren Missouri customers were without power at the height of the utility's outages Wednesday morning in Morgan County.
Ameren's online outage map showed several outages in the Versailles area and south. An Ameren spokesperson said the cause was weather-related.
The spokesperson said impacted customers were without power for about two hours -- crews were at the scene assessing the problem at about 10:30 a.m.
Power was restored by 11:30 a.m., according to the map.
Gusty winds were felt across Mid-Missouri on Wednesday morning, and stronger winds were expected later in the day. Much of the area was under a wind advisory Wednesday morning.
The National Weather Service Springfield office reported a 58 mph non-thunderstorm wind gust about four miles northeast of Versailles at 11:30 a.m.
Ivy Bend Fire and Rescue posted on Facebook on Wednesday afternoon saying firefighters were on the way to the Sawmill and Rabbit Run area for a downed power line.
Morgan County R-II School District shared on Facebook that the power was out for about 10 minutes at 9:35 a.m. before coming back on. This outage temporarily impacted the network and phone system.
A second major outage was reported around the Lake of the Ozarks around 11 a.m.
According to the Ameren outage map, about 1,375 customers were without power in Camden County as of 1 p.m. with another 268 without power in Miller County.
The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives also reported that 1,140 members were without power in Camden County across three cooperatives. Benton County reported 447 members without power as well.
The School of the Osage shared on Facebook that its Early Childhood Center and Heritage Elementary were without power around 11:50 a.m. on Wednesday. The school later said that classes continued despite the outage.
Check back for updates.
