By Rachel Lippmann, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Officials at AmerenUE say most of the customers affected by Tuesday's severe storm should have power back on by Thursday morning the latest.
Fifty-two thousand customers were without electricity immediately following the storms, which also caused damage to several local buildings. UE officials said nearly 85 percent had service restored in the first 12 hours.
Outages were concentrated in University City, Clayton, Ladue and north St. Louis County, said Ameren spokesman Mike Cleary.
"And there are just some pockets in there where there were a lot of trees to clear that are taking longer than of course everyone would like," he said.
Saturated ground and high winds toppled a number of mature trees onto power lines, Cleary said - it's not an issue of tree trimming and maintenance. The storm, he said, was pretty typical for late spring in St. Louis.
"The thing that was more unique about this one is that it kind of settled over the St. Louis area and stayed there," he said. "And unfortunately that lead to higher numbers of customers out just due to the population density."
About 800 employees from across the state, including 500 line workers, are helping restore service to the remaining customers