Some SEMO Electric customers could be without power for five weeks

People living in some rural areas of Southeast Missouri could be without power for more than a month, authorities said Wednesday.

As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, about 4,000 customers of SEMO Electric Cooperative, mostly confined to Scott, New Madrid and Mississippi counties, were still without power, said Glen Cantrell, spokesman for SEMO Electric. It could take three to five weeks to get power restored to everyone who lost it as a result of last week's ice storm, he said.

SEMO Electric had 19 utility crews working on restoring power Wednesday, five of its own and 14 contrac crews from other regions.

The company expects at least 13 more crews, coming from as far away as Florida and Iowa, to begin work today, Cantrell said.

Crews were still being pulled from other jobs Wednesday and sent to Missouri to help with restoration effort, he said.

"Our hope is that they'll get the help they need," said Joel Evans, emergency management director for Scott County.

In all, about 21,000 homes and businesses in the region remained without power late Wednesday. That number included 120 who get their service from AmerenUE, 15,300 who belong to rural cooperatives and 5,600 served by municipal utilities. Ameren said it hoped to restore power to everyone by the end of Wednesday; however, at 11 p.m., 115 customers were without power.

Jim McCarty, spokesman for the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, said the next gains would come slowly.

"They have to do a mile line to get three people in the countryside connected," he said.

Darlene Scott, who lives about eight miles southwest of Sikeston, said Wednesday afternoon that she hadn't had direct contact with SEMO Electric.

Her power has been out for several days. On Wednesday she could see crews working near her home to erect new utility poles.

"We've been doing all right, but it's aggravating," Scott said.

Teresa Ray of Blodgett, Mo., said her family has been without power for more than a week, but they're managing as best they can.

"We're hanging in there," Ray said.

Ray, who works at Cargill, said she was able to return to work after power was restored there Wednesday, and her family is working on getting back to their daily routines, with schools back in session.

"We've just been going day by day," she said.

Her family has been making due with a small generator and going to a nearby relative's house on some nights when the temperature drops too low.

Numerous people and offices have bought generators to deal with the power loss.

A generator in a garage apparently killed a woman and a teenage girl by carbon monoxide poisoning in their New Madrid County home.

Jeanice Griffin, 58, and Kaitlyn Beckett, 18, were discovered in their rural Matthews, Mo., home after school and county authorities, along with a neighbor, went to check on their well-being.

New Madrid County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Julia York said officers discovered two bodies in the home and a gas-powered generator in the garage.

"These need to be in a ventilated place instead of a closed garage," York said of the generator. "People don't realize how dangerous they are."

As of Wednesday afternoon, about 60 percent of Sikeston's municipal power had been restored, according to the Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities.

Sikeston has been slowly getting back to working order, with public schools resuming today and Missouri Delta Medical Center bringing the hospital back to normal operation.

In Dunklin County, power has been returned to 90 percent of Malden and Clarkton, while Campbell stands at 50 percent and Kennett at 20 percent, according to Emergency Management director Larry Kelly. All of the towns in the southern part of the county remain in the dark.

"The southern part of the county saw the most damage, and power companies are having to rebuild structures, put in new power poles," Kelly said. "We don't have a definite time when the power will be back. It will be several days at least."

The Associated Press and the Daily American Republic contributed to this report.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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