7 a.m.
A severe storm that swept through the bistate area this morning has left 8,100 Southwestern Electric members without power. Crews have been dispatched to patrol lines and survey damage, and the cooperative’s operations and engineering teams are working with Ameren to identify transmission line faults affecting Southwestern substations.
As of 7 a.m., 3,900 Madison County members were without service, 3,000 members in Fayette County were without power, and 940 members in Effingham County were without service. The remaining outages were scatted across each of the counties served by Southwestern.
Members are cautioned to avoid all downed and low-hanging power lines. The lines may be energized, or become energized without warning.