By KWMU/AP
St. Louis, MO – About 60,000 Ameren customers in the St. Louis region are still without power this morning (Wednesday), and there are now 16 deaths in Missouri and Illinois being blamed in on the storm.
Though power has been restored to most areas hardest hit, Missouri's utility regulators are frustrated that more hasn't been done to prevent widespread outages.
Crews have restored power to about 323,000 customers since the Dec. 1 storm, according to the St. Louis-based utility company, Ameren Corp. But some rural areas won't get service until Friday, the company said.
Frustrations with the prolonged power outage prompted the Missouri Public Service Commission to summon Ameren's chief operating officer to a meeting Tuesday. Commissioners weren't satisfied with Executive Vice President Thomas Voss' explanation that the ice storm was the worst to hit the St. Louis since Dec. 31, 1978, and that most of the damage was caused by trees rooted on private property.
Commission chairman Jeff Davis, his voice rising, noted it was Ameren's fourth major, prolonged power outage in three years.
Davis and other commissioners demanded Ameren come up with suggestions to prevent such widespread blackouts be it buried power lines, stronger lines or expanded legal authority to trim trees.
"The perception out there is no one else is having this many power outages," Davis said. "The perception out there is maybe you guys have spent a little too much time on Wall Street and not enough time worrying about Main Street."
Eleven of the 16 confirmed deaths were in Missouri. Nine more deaths in the two states five in Missouri, four in Illinois were suspected to be weather-related.
Using portable generators or burning other fuels indoors has killed at least two people and sickened dozens in the St. Louis area. The generators give off lethal carbon monoxide, which can accumulate quickly inside homes.
By Tuesday, at least 43 people had been admitted to hospitals in the St. Louis area because of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to authorities.
Meanwhile, about 65,000 Charter Communications customers still lacked cable TV as of Tuesday, as well. In addition, 14,000 didn't have Internet service through Charter, and 7,300 lacked phone service. Charter says it hopes to have all service restored this week.
Also Tueday, the Humane Society in St. Louis sent staff to Polk County in southwestern Missouri Tuesday to rescue more than 30 dogs. The dogs were in a shelter where the roof collapsed under the weight of snow.