Ameren Illinois Utilities Assign Nearly 900 Workers to Restore Service Following Significant Ice Storm in Southern Illinois
February 12 2008 - 5:36PM
PR Newswire (US)
Ameren Illinois Utilities Urge Residents to Stay Away from Down
Power lines MARION, Ill., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- More
than 700 Ameren Illinois Utility workers and outside contractor
personnel from across Illinois are working to restore power to
about 13,400 AmerenCIPS customers in Southern Illinois. In
addition, more than 180 tree trimmers, management and field
checking workers have been assigned to the restoration effort.
Continued ice damage has resulted in downed power lines in some
areas. The Ameren Illinois Utilities warn all residents to stay
away from downed power lines, which may still be energized.
Residents should stay away from brush and downed trees which may
hide downed wires. Areas experiencing the most significant damage
include Anna, Carbondale, Marion, Harrisburg and surrounding
communities. Resources from the entire Ameren Illinois Utilities
service territory, as far north as Peoria and as far west as
Quincy, have been deployed to the stricken areas. Thick ice,
falling tree limbs and windy conditions have caused outage numbers
to fluctuate throughout the day. AmerenCIPS' territory in southern
Illinois began experiencing outages at approximately 8:30 p.m.,
Monday, Feb. 11, due to icing conditions. At approximately 2:00
o'clock Tuesday morning, approximately 1,000 customers were without
power. That number rose to approximately 15,000 around 11:00 a.m.
and after going up and down through the day, stood at about 13,400
at 4:00 p.m. If the winds increase this evening -- expected to be
about 20 MPH -- the situation may be impacted further. At the
current time, the company is still assessing the damage from this
storm and expects that many outages may extend into Friday.
AmerenCIPS will provide an update on estimated restoration times as
soon as they are available. "Our effort to restore service safely
to our customers has been hampered by weather conditions that have
slowed our travel times prevented ice from melting off of trees and
power lines," said John Barud, manager of Ameren Illinois Division
VI. "Throughout the day, more tree limbs fell into electrical
lines, resulting in additional outages and potentially hazardous
situations. "Our linemen and other personnel will continue to work
long hours under adverse conditions until every customer has
service restored." AmerenCIPS officials are reaching out to its
communities and any critical care facilities that are impacted and
a direct number is being provided to help answer any questions. "We
understand the impact the loss of electricity service has on our
customers," said Ron Pate, vice president, Regional Operations,
Ameren Illinois Utilities. "This situation has been intensified by
the fact that some customers have had their service restored only
to experience a new outage due to continued weather-related
problems." If residents see downed wires, they should immediately
call AmerenCIPS at 1-888-789-2477. Customers who have not
previously reported a service outage may also call AmerenCIPS. The
Ameren Illinois utilities serve 1.2 million electric and more than
840,000 natural gas customers in a 43,700-square-mile area of
Illinois. DATASOURCE: Ameren CONTACT: Erica Abbett of Ameren,
+1-618-236-4329, after hours, +1-217-424-6400 Web site:
http://www.ameren.com/
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