Storms leave St. Louis powerless against heat
July 21, 2006
BY CHERYL WITTENAUER
ST. LOUIS -- The governor sent in the National Guard to evacuate people from their sweltering homes Thursday after storms knocked out power to nearly half a million St. Louis-area households and businesses in the middle of a searing heat wave that has killed at least 17 people across the country.
With forecasters expecting another day of 100-degree heat, utility crews raced to restore electricity, and Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency, granting the mayor's request to send in 250 troops to take people to air-conditioned public buildings and to clear debris.
'We can't overemphasize the danger of this heat,' Mayor Francis Slay said. 'The longer the heat goes on and the power is out, the riskier it is.'
Police used public-address speakers from their squad cars to announce locations of the community centers and other places designated as cooling centers. Volunteers went door to door, checking on people with no power to run fans or air conditioners.
Utility workers urged customers to find a cool place to stay. They warned that power could be out in some areas for three to five days.
Brick houses like furnaces
By midmorning, the temperature was 90, with a predicted high of 103. The region could get some relief on Friday, when the high was expected to drop to 88.
The storms tore through the city a day earlier, ripping off a section of airport roof and dumping it on a highway. Windows were blown out of a hotel restaurant and a press box at baseball's Busch Stadium. At least three buildings collapsed, and more than 30 people were injured.
'I've never seen this many people without power, this much debris, buildings collapsed, lines down,' the mayor said.
By midday, power had been restored to just over 100,000 customers, but new reports of outages kept coming in.
St. Louis-based AmerenUE, the utility serving Missouri and Illinois, said it would restore power to hospitals, nursing homes, water-treatment plants and other 'critical facilities' first.
City Health Director William Kincaid cautioned that the city's older housing, much of it made of red brick, can heat up like furnaces in the summer heat.
The storms also brought heavy rain, hail and 80 mph winds to Illinois on Wednesday night, and roughly 120,000 homes and businesses were without power Thursday.
AP
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