SEMO Electric Cooperative changes power restoration forecast to two weeks; Sikeston makes progress

Sikeston's municipal utilities and SEMO Electric Cooperative crews reported progress in restoring power to thousands of customers Thursday morning.

AmerenUE reported no significant outages Thursday morning, with less than 1 percent of customers statewide without service reported on its website.

Sikeston authorities said in a news release that 70 percent of the city's power had been restored by Thursday morning, with crews working 18 hour days, but didn't give an estimate for when all power will be restored.

SEMO Electric Cooperative had 99 crews working on outages Wednesday. By Saturday, they expect to add 10 more from other areas, said Glen Cantrell, spokesman for SEMO ELectric.

Cantrell said with the additional crews, SEMO Electric should be able to restore power to all customers within two weeks. Cantrell had reported on Wednesday that it could be three to five weeks to restore the power.