Editor's note: This story was originally publish by the Belleville News-Democrat.
The Washington County Board has made a disaster declaration in response to the severe thunderstorm that hit the area Friday night.
Strong winds caused power outages, downed trees, road blockages and structure damage across Washington County.
More than 2,500 residents in the Nashville area were still without power on Saturday afternoon, Ameren’s outage map showed.
The county emergency management agency told the community it could take 4-5 days to fully restore power.
Ameren spokesman Tucker Kennedy said in an interview Saturday afternoon that the company was estimating the majority of Nashville customers’ electricity would be on by late Sunday evening, though some may take until Monday.
The storm downed sub-transmission poles in Nashville that feed power to a large number of customers and wire was down in multiple locations, according to Kennedy.
He said 2,800 Ameren workers and contractors are on the ground working to repair damage across the state from multiple storms. A severe storm hit central and southeast Illinois on Thursday, a day before the storm affecting the St. Louis region.
A total of 934 utility poles were damaged or destroyed, according to Ameren. Nearly 182,000 people lost power on Thursday and another 30,000 lost power Friday, Kennedy said.
With temperatures in the 80s and 90s expected over the next few days, cooling shelters will be available for Washington County residents at the Ashley Fire Department, Okawville Senior Center and Lighthouse Community Church in Nashville.
Lexi Cortes is a reporter with the Belleville News-Democrat (or other outlet), a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
