Following Tuesday's severe storms, City Utilities said around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday that some 26,000 utility customers remained without electricity, down from 28,100 customers who were still waiting for service restoration overnight.
At the peak of the outage, nearly 50,000 customers were without electricity.
CU line and tree crews have been working nonstop to restore power. CU officials said that, in addition to their own crews, they’ll have the assistance of over 25 crew teams Wednesday through mutual-aid agreements as well as contractor teams.
They said customers should prepare for extended electric outages that may last for multiple days.
You can report a power outage at cityutilities.net.
To report storm damage, other than downed lines of power outages, contact the Greene County Public Information Call Center at 417-829-6200.
Second round of storms could be 'severe,' officials say
The City of Springfield and the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management warned of a second round of storms that could prove to be "severe."
The National Weather Service is forecasting another round of showers and thunderstorms expected to move through the area tonight.
- The risk is mainly for lightning, officials say.
- But a "conditional risk" also exists, with possible strong to severe thunderstorms including damaging wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour.
- A brief tornado or two is also possible.
- Hail up to quarter-size is also possible.
- Heavy rainfall with the thunderstorms will elevate river and flash flood risks in southwest Missouri.
OEM recommends that everyone keep safety in mind:
- Have a severe weather shelter plan. Review your emergency kit and identify the closest safe shelter.
- Have a way of receiving severe weather warnings (NOAA Weather Radio, social media, news media, etc.)
- Take shelter when lightning is in the area.
- Residents with outdoor recreational plans along rivers and streams should be alert for the potential for lightning strikes and rapidly rising water levels.
Officials say worst Springfield-area power outage since 2007 ice storm
City Utilities, the City of Springfield, the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management and Greene County held a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
The conference opened with this statement from CU spokesperson Joel Alexander:
"We haven't had a situation like this in many, many years. We're going back to about 2007, 2008 with the ice storms of that period."
CU officials said they'd identified around 50,000 outages out of 120,000 customers served by the utility company, prompting them to declare a large-scale emergency.
Surrounding towns have been affected, too.
"At the peak of this outage, we were at about 23,000," said Kelly Price, with Liberty Utilities. "In this particular area, the bulk of those are in the Republic and Aurora areas — also in Willard. So, similar to what City Utilities shared. This is extensive, and the restoration is likely to be prolonged. We are expecting roughly in the 24 to 48 hours for service restoration."
Warren Brooks, CU's vice-president of electric operations, said restoration and repair will be "prolonged." There are numerous poles broken, significant damage to distribution and transmission facilities and many trees down, according to Brooks. "It will take several days or more to fully complete our restorations," he said.
Brooks said some homes may have sustained damage to their electric service point and repairs must be made by a licensed electrician and approved by an inspector before CU can restore power to those locations.
He said, if you're using a generator, use them outside only and don't plug them into any electrical outlets, but instead use the outlets on the generator for anything that needs power. "This prevents backfeeding onto our electrical system, which can pose additional dangers to our workers in the field," he said.
Representatives stressed the importance of staying away from and not driving over any downed power lines as well as working with utility company employees who may need access to backyards.
City Utilities will share information soon about how to dispose of fallen tree limbs. The Springfield Yard Waste Recycling Center will be open during normal operational hours, but long lines are expected.
No injuries from the storm had been reported as of Tuesday.
Editor's note: This report was updated Wednesday, April 30 at 9:05 a.m. with the latest safety tips and count of CU customers without power. Gregory Holman contributed reporting.
