STORM DOWNS POWER LINES

Although the unusual January thunderstorms caused a few power outages in the Cape Girardeau area Sunday evening, the problems were minor and limited to a relatively small area.

The storms, which began to push through the county at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday, produced high winds, heavy rains, thunder and lightning. The threat of tornadoes never materialized.

Doug Groesbeck, district manager with AmerenUE, said Sunday night that there was one significant power outage in the city that was caused by the storm. The outage affected 1,300 customers on the west part of town in the Route K area, Groesbeck said.

But Groesbeck added that given the weather systems that moved into other areas of Southeast Missouri, Cape Girardeau experienced relatively few problems.

"We dodged a bullet," Groesbeck said.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department reported that the outages had caused some of the traffic lights to shut down on the west side of town near Interstate 55. No added problems or accidents were reported from the electrical outages.

A spokesman with the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department said Sunday that the only report of damage was of a power line down on County Road 206 off Route K, near the new Notre Dame High School.

"It didn't appear there was a lot of damage and AmerenUE was quick to respond and take care of the problem," the spokesman said. "We're pretty lucky."

Most of the power in Cape Girardeau and surrounding areas had been restored by 9 p.m., with only a few isolated households without power, Groesbeck said.