Ameren Illinois crews have restored service to more than 148,000 customers since Sunday's devastating storms and tornadoes

Collinsville, Ill. (Nov. 21, 2013) – More than 1,500 Ameren Illinois crews and contractors have completed repairs and restored service to a majority of the customers in the remaining Illinois communities, including the hard-hit areas of Gifford, Pekin and Washington.

"There are a few isolated outages, so today crews will move through the impacted areas to identify any remaining customers without service," said Ron Pate vice president Operations and Technical Services. "Our crews will also begin cleanup of the debris left from our damaged infrastructure."

At the peak of the outage, more than 148,000 customers were without power throughout the Ameren Illinois service area. The storm began working its way through the Ameren Illinois territory at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Hundreds of homes were lost or severely damaged.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the impacted communities," said Richard J. Mark, president and CEO of Ameren Illinois. "I also want to thank our customers for their patience as we worked through getting these outages resolved. The road to recovery will not be easy. In addition, my hat goes off to the field personnel and support staff for the tremendous work they have performed under less than ideal conditions."