News Releases

Severe storms impacted Ameren Missouri customers following weather events that took place overnight on Friday, July 9, with additional severe weather continuing on Saturday, including a reported tornado in southeast Missouri. Here’s an update on restoration efforts, and be sure to visit the outage map for the latest based on the latest weather conditions.

7:30 p.m. Update

• Ameren Missouri crews, along with crews from five other states, continue the work to restore thousands of customers impacted by severe weather. More than 50,000 customers have had their service restored to date. Visit the Ameren Missouri outage map for the latest.
• A reported tornado last night in southeast Missouri caused significant damage, resulting in an additional 5,700 customers to lose power.
• Today, more than 1,100 crew members are engaged to get the remaining customers restored as soon as possible. Supporting crews came from Ameren Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin.
• We anticipate restoring service to many customers over the next 12 hours but, based on the severity of the damage and the amount trees and limbs impacting our system and the new damage from the severe weather on Saturday night, some outages may take longer.
• Ameren Missouri customer line: 800.552.7583 
• Ameren Illinois customer line: 800.755.5000

8 a.m. Update

• Ameren Missouri crews worked overnight to restore thousands of additional customers. More than 36,000 customers have had their service restored to date. Visit the Ameren Missouri outage map for the latest.
• A reported tornado last night in southeast Missouri caused significant damage, resulting in an additional 5,700 customers to lose power.
• Today, we will have more than 600 crew members engaged to get the remaining customers restored as soon as possible, including mutual aid support from neighboring states.
• We’re making progress. Throughout the weekend, approximately 62,000 customers were without service around the state. We’ve been able to restore nearly 36,000 customers so far as we’ve dealt with additional weather threats following the initial storm on Friday, including a reported tornado in Dexter, Mo., on Saturday.  The latest information is available at ameren.com/outage.
• We anticipate restoring service to many customers over the next 24 hours but, based on the severity of the damage and the amount trees and limbs impacting our system and the new damage from the severe weather on Saturday night, some outages may take longer.
• The damage reports from metropolitan St. Louis indicate sustained high winds of more than 70 miles per hour caused trees and debris to come in contact with power lines, which resulted in widespread scattered outage orders throughout the service territory. In addition to on-the-ground damage assessor crews, we are using drones to locate damage.
• We are advising that customers please be safe. More severe weather or pop-up storms could occur later this afternoon or tonight that could cause additional damage. Always assume a downed wire is live. Be careful around pools of water. Stay clear of brush, shrubs and downed trees that may hide downed power lines. Always call Ameren or 911 if you see downed lines. 
• Ameren Missouri customer line: 800.552.7583 
• Ameren Illinois customer line: 800.755.5000

 What customers can do

• Customers can check on the status of their restoration at Ameren.com or download the free Ameren app for updates as they become available. 
• Sign up for alerts. Text REG to AMEREN (263736) to start or visit Ameren.com/Alerts.
• Update your contact info with Ameren Missouri.  To ensure we can provide you with the latest outage update, we must have your correct phone number and email address. Please log in to your Ameren account to ensure your contact information is correct. 
• When reporting an outage, please use the phone number associated with the account.  Entering a number that is not associated with the account will create an error message.

Other General Information: 

• High wind gusts can cause trees of varying heights to topple over when we experience heavy amounts of soil moisture and wind at the same time. With full leaves on the trees, they can act as kites at times and can knock down poles and power lines.
• Restoration is prioritized in a way that gets the largest number of customers' power back safely and quickly. As we get further into the outage, we are working individual scattered outages that take more time.   
• Ameren Missouri is increasing the reliability of our system with our Smart Energy Plan. This plan helps Ameren Missouri invest in smart technology that creates a stronger system that better withstands storm damage, including stronger poles and wires. These investments have helped prevent outages during this weather event.
• Through the Smart Energy Plan investments we are installing smart technology that reroutes power when there is damage on the system. This technology can take outages that would have been hours down to minutes or seconds.
• After crews restore power from an outage, customers may need a licensed electrician to make repairs to the electric service entrance equipment. To find out which components are the responsibility of the customer, go to AmerenMissouri.com/outage under power restoration. https://www.ameren.com/missouri/outage-center/power-restoration