Storm winds pound Jackson

JACKSON, Mo. -- The same storm system that brought tornadoes and death to southern states Saturday was much more kind here, although it brought enough wind to snap eight utility poles in half, leaving nearly all of Jackson's 12,000 residents without power for hours.

City administrator Jim Roach said work to restore electricity to a final few Jackson customers likely would continue today.

The situation in Cape Girardeau wasn't as serious, but AmerenUE reported 4,200 customers in its service area -- which includes outlying areas like Gordonville, Chaffee and Scott City -- lost power for a time due to wind knocking trees into power lines.

The line of storms swept through Southeast Missouri in the early morning hours Saturday, culminating with winds of about 50 mph at 4:30 a.m., said Rachel Uthlaut, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky. That is just below the category for severe, she said.

"On the radar, it didn't look impressive at all," she said.

While most of the power was restored by mid-morning, some Jackson residents went without electricity much of the day as city and subcontracted crews worked to redirect energy from other sources and scurried to get the poles removed from East Jackson Boulevard and replaced.

"It looks like the winds were very concentrated in a very narrow area along Jackson Boulevard," said Jackson city administrator Jim Roach.

The winds blew the city's main electric lines down, with most landing in the street.

"Those big poles were snapped off like toothpicks with all the wires coming down with them," Roach said.

Officer's near miss

No injuries were reported, although Roach said a city police officer was driving down Jackson Boulevard when the poles began falling.

"He was in the middle of all that," Roach said. "The wind lifted his car up, and when it all stopped, he was sitting on the other side of the road with power lines laying across the hood of his car. That was a near miss, I'd say."

Jackson public works crews worked Saturday morning at about 10 a.m., removing the poles, setting new ones and stringing new wire. Roach hoped to have the new poles finished by today. Some residents may not have had power restored until today either, he said.

The power outage caused owner Steve Blankenship to close Tractors Classic American Grill on High Street until nearly 5 p.m., leaving some folks looking elsewhere for lunch.

"We can't do anything without power," Blankenship said. "You can't turn on your grills or anything. We threw away a lot of food."

Jackson resident Sherri Williamson, who lives on Rosebud Drive, heard her phone beeping that it had no power, so she knew the electricity was off. It came back on about 8 a.m., she said.

"It didn't cause any big problems, other than I couldn't have my coffee as early as I like it," she said.

AmerenUE district manager Doug Groesbeck said most customers in Cape Girardeau had power back within two hours.

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded to a transformer on fire on North Clark and downed lines at 2530 Meadow Lane and the corner of Main and Broadway.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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