Ameren Illinois Public Relations Spokesperson Brian Bretsch said it was a very busy day for workers on Thursday, March 14, 2024, after damaging storms hit various parts of the region.
In Macoupin County, the communities of Brighton and Carlinville were hit the hardest by strong winds and severe weather.
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First one (Brighton area): 7:50 a.m. Thursday reports of 10 power poles down south of the Ameren Illinois Brighton substation. Approximately 1,500 customers were at one time without power. Crews restored the poles and the areas in Brighton, Bunker Hill and Shipman by 5 p.m., Bretsch said.
Collinsville was hit the hardest in the second wave of storms that rolled through Madison County around 5 p.m.
At one point, nearly half the town was without power, 7,200-plus customers. Crews were on the scene quickly and by 9:30 p.m. Thursday had more than 6,000 customers restored in Collinsville.
"Toppled trees and limbs were the biggest factor for our outages in Madison County," Bretsch said.
Ameren Illinois Vice President Luke Wollin, also president of Electric Operations for Ameren, thanked the support staff and crews for their hard work overnight and previous investments made “to prepare our power poles and power lines to withstand high winds, the majority of customer outages were restored as the sun came up.”
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