Severe storms swept through St. Louis, sparking tornado warnings and leaving thousands without power, as Ameren rushes to restore electricity.
ST. LOUIS — Strong storms that rolled throughout the St. Louis region on Monday triggered numerous tornado warnings and damaging winds, causing widespread power outages, according to 5 On Your Side’s Weather Impact team.
The Storm Prediction Center placed the entire 5 On Your Side viewing area under a moderate risk (Level 4 out of 5) for severe weather. The strong system moved into the region with an 80% chance of storms, some of which became severe and spun up tornadoes and high wind speeds.
As of 9 p.m. on Monday, nearly 49,000 Ameren customers were without power in Missouri and Illinois communities across the St. Louis region. Outage numbers are expected to increase heading into the evening as the severe risk heightens.
St. Louis region power outage updates:
Ameren Missouri and Illinois previously told 5 On Your Side that dozens of dispatchers use smart devices located in people’s homes and businesses to monitor power outages as future storms roll in.
Outage data that Ameren compiles is available to everyone through the company’s outage map.
MORE | Ameren power outage map
The Ameren Missouri dispatch office in St. Louis holds its Emergency Operating Center, where dispatchers directly communicate with crews, sending them to outages. It’s just one of three Ameren dispatch office locations in our area with all hands on deck for today’s severe weather.
When an outage occurs, Ameren said it takes an average of three hours to turn the power back on.
“What we’re trying to do is understand where those outages may be,” said Ben Lynch, director of Distribution operations at Ameren Missouri.
“We’re looking to repair those outages as quickly as possible. We also are consistently looking through areas that may have had a historical, maybe multiple outages over the previous year, we’re definitely looking to drive future projects so we can remedy those issues before they become a problem again, for our customers.”
