01/21/10 - 05:50 - Ameren Illinois Battles Ice and Wind

Ameren Illinois crews worked overnight battling ice, wind and galloping lines. As of 05:50, outages have bounced back to 11,885 with the most outages in the following counties: Bureau, Henry, Knox, Marshall, McLean, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Stark, Warren and Woodford. At 12:30, the division was down to 7,000 customers out of service and all major outages were assigned. The wind did die down around midnight, but picked back up around 01:30 and the galloping continued causing the outage count to jump. Our field workforce reported that the road conditions were very treacherous and travel was hazardous. The wind continues to be a factor across the division still and in the northern part of our territories our co-workers are reporting up to an .06 to .08 inch of icing on our lines.

Five warming centers were opened earlier this evening in the communities that are most impacted and include the following northern locations: Aledo Fire Station, Viola Fire Station, Joy Fire Station, New Boston Fire Station, and Keithsburg City Hall. Our community relations personnel have continued to keep in contact with the Mercer County ESDA director where all these warming centers are located. Ameren Illinois is also keeping the local ESDA directors in Knox, Woodford, and Stark Counties updated, as well as reaching out to other communities leaders in an effort to keep all appraised of the progress and outreach efforts.

Keep safety your first priority.

Storm Reference: 20100121AIU