PERRYVILLE – Citizens Electric Corporation personnel worked throughout the day to restore power in an area that included the southern two thirds of Ste. Genevieve County, all of Perry County and northern Cape Girardeau County.
CEC posted the following information in a 4 p.m. update on its Facebook page.
All available Citizens Electric crews are in the field contending with extensive tree damage and managing approximately 5,872 meters without power. Additional contractors and electric cooperative mutual aid have been called in to assist with restoration efforts. We have identified over 20 broken poles thus far, along with broken crossarms and insulators. We are experiencing a lot of tree damage, significant to the point where we complete work in one section only to have new damage to repair down the line.
Wind, rain and icy road conditions will slow down restoration moving into the evening as temperatures drop, wind increases, and precipitation continues throughout the night. Our members should be prepared for a multiple day outage.
Wind is expected to pick up through the night that could cause galloping lines and more outages. When ice freezes on power lines and equipment, it causes the lines to gallop with the wind. The lines then slap into each other, which damages equipment and causes blinking lights and power outages. Anyone who observes a galloping line is urged to stay away from it. Ice can be thrown off the line or the line could break free. Both could cause injury to anyone standing nearby.
Our commitment
Every single outage is our priority. All CEC crews will work long hours, facing many challenges to restore power as quickly as possible.
We appreciate your understanding and patience as we work as quickly and safely as possible. We truly value your membership.
Stay away from all fallen lines.
Report all outages by calling 877-876-3511.
Track outages throughout the service territory https://outagemap.cecmo.com/omswebmap/omswebmap.htm