Nearly 3,000 affected by power outage

<p class="p1">A Tuesday morning power outage affected nearly 3,000 electric customers, according to an Ameren Illinois spokesman.

<p class="p1">Ameren media spokesman Brian Bretsch told the Herald Tribune that 2,960 customers were without power at the height of the outage, which occurred around 5:20 a.m.

<p class="p2">"We dispatched crews to patrol the outage," Bretsch said in an email. "However, flooding has made troubleshooting difficult.

<p class="p2">"A decision was made to call for a helicopter to go up and look for the cause of the outage."

<p class="p2">Power was restored around 8:30 a.m.

<p class="p2">A total of 2,840 Ameren customers in the 62233 area code (which includes Chester, Ellis Grove and surrounding areas) were affected, leaving only 10 in that area who avoided the inconvenience.

<p class="p2">"Something bumped the line causing the substation to trip," Bretsch said. "We were able to reenergized the line out of the sub and power was restored.

<p class="p2">"Still not sure of the cause. We still plan to patrol the line with boats and a helicopter because of flooding in the Chester area."

<p class="p2">In a follow-up email, Bretsch said probable cause for the outage was a tree.

<p class="p2">"We performed an aerial inspection of the power lines from a helicopter and found three power poles in the Chester area that have broken cross arms," he said. "We have crews working in the area to make the repairs."