DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — One of the biggest concerns after Thursday's storms is restoring power. According to Ameren Illinois, 182,000 customers were without service. As of Friday, at 5 p.m., nearly 90,000 had their power restored.
However, many people are expected to wait until the end of the weekend till they see power.
"We do appreciate that customers need to know when they're going to be restored. We are currently in and are still in our assessment mode while we're making repairs. What I can say at this point is event is going to extend well into the weekend," said George Justice, Vice President, Electric Operations, Ameren Illinois.
There are crews from out of state assisting Ameren workers. There are more than 2,500 workers are on the ground and in the field repairing damaged infrastructure.
"Trees, trees knocked down, trees on power lines, power outages. I know everywhere between here and Lincoln is out of power," said Joel Olaughlin, Tree Bros Tree Services.
Nearby neighbors are stepping in to help those in the community.
"I'm going to try to get some generators out here so I can help both of my neighbors out. And possibly a neighbor that is down there. So, this is a major thing when we can come together as a community," said Federick Fields.
Debris and trees also remain scattered across the area. The City of Decatur continues to work on clearing up the trail of damage.
Decatur residents have until July 10th to collect trees and limbs and place them on the curb for pick-up. They must be no longer than six-feet. Only trees and limbs will be accepted for pick up.
"If they get it out to their curb by July 10th, for residents who live inside the city of Decatur, that our public works team, once they get caught up on all of the other stuff they're working on right now, will remove that," said Scott Wrighton
Cooling centers are also available for those who need a place to charge their phones.
The Decatur Civic Center is open as a cooling and charging station until 5 p.m. on Friday, June 30. For the weekend, the Decatur Public Library is open on Saturday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Decatur Public Transit is open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
