SOUTH JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (WAND) - Ameren officials have almost fully restored power in Jacksonville and South Jacksonville after storms tore through the area Sunday night.
The utility company said at the worst of the outages, about 1,800 customers in the area lost power. At about 8 p.m. Monday, just over 100 people still were without service.
Ameren expects power to be restored to all customers by "late evening" Monday. A spokesperson said crews have been "working around the clock" on power restoration.
The storm that moved through caused some major damage to City Church in Jacksonville, removing some of the outer wall and shattering windows.
The mess, which included tress and branches on the ground, left people scrambling to clean up. Cleanup efforts included debris at South Jacksonville Elementary.
"(It was) a lot of raking, a lot of lifting, a lot of throwing brush into trucks," said South Jacksonville Elementary Principal Tim Chipman. "Great sense of teamwork - (we) had a crew of about 10 here this morning at about 6."
South Jacksonville police released information Monday afternoon updating roads. They said both East Vandalia Road and West Vandalia Road are reopened to traffic. As of 5 p.m., South East Street south of East Vandalia, Southview Drive and Southview Court remained closed because of debris and working power crews.
All other streets in South Jacksonville were passable Monday evening.
Residents who have emergency issues are asked to contact South Jacksonville police at (217)245-9222. Residents with structural damage to property should call Village Hall at (217)245-4803.
Power or gas issues should be reported to Ameren by dialing 1-800-755-5000.
