05/09/2009 UPDATE: Press briefing 2 (VIDEO)
A small army of more than 1,200 men and women working to restore power to about 63,500 Southern Illinois electricity customers, The Ameren Illinois Utilities (CIPS, CILCO, IP) have set a goal of completing the majority of the restoration effort by midnight on Tuesday, May 12.
Ameren Illinois Utilities CIPS CILCO IP power outages Southern Counties Alexander Clark Crawford Franklin Gallatin Jackson Jasper Johnson Perry Pulaski Randolph Saline Union Williamson inland hurricane
While the Ameren Illinois Utilities anticipate many customers will need the services of an electrical contractor to reattach or repair customer-owned facilities, such as the meter base, weatherhead or point of attachment, before their electric service can be restored. This will likely mean some customers will not be able to restore service until later in the week.
Current information on the electrical service restoration effort as well as safety advice and weather reports are available at IllinoisOutage.com.
In addition to field and support personnel, the Ameren Illinois Utilities have deployed four Storm Trailers to the impacted area. The trailers are located at Murphysboro, Sparta and two in Marion. The Storm Trailers are mobile storerooms, stocked with the material field crews need to get the lights back on. The trailers can be moved to central staging sites to provide essential materials areas with the greatest damage.
The Ameren Illinois Utilities also have a special Customer Service Center in the Marion Mall near the Sears store for customers who do not have access to phone service. It will be open through Tuesday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. each day.
Storm Reference: 20090509AIU
