Ameren Illinois Has Busy Night With Power Lines, Restoring Region, Work Continues Through Day

ALTON - Ameren Illinois Communications Executive Brian Bretsch described Wednesday night into Thursday a difficult time for line repair workers because of the way the wind storm hit the region.

He said because there were smaller pockets of outages because of the wind storm, there were many different segments that had to be restored.

“With the outage in different neighborhoods, we couldn’t do the rerouting and switching like we normally do to bring back hundreds at a time,” Bretsch said. “There were little pockets all over Madison County and it was challenging to restore lots of folks at one time.”

At one point, 9,200 customers throughout Madison County were without power. Alton/East Alton at one point had 4,200 people without power, Bretsch said. Edwardsville, Maryville and Wood River also encountered power outages through the night, Bretsch said.

“It was all hands on deck working today and overnight,” he said.

Late this morning, he said there were still about 900 without power in the Alton area and 1,400 in Madison County, but they will continue to work into the evening to restore everyone.

In Wood River, there was a limb that fell and twisted into a power line. He said that has been the type of things service people have battled overnight across the area.

Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.

More like this:

Alton Square Mall Experiences Brief Power Disruption

Mar 25, 2026

Ameren Illinois Crews Replace Power Pole After Vehicle Collision Outage

Apr 19, 2026

Ameren Explains What Happens During a Storm and How to Stay Safe

Mar 17, 2026

East Alton Man Detained After Multi-Agency Police Chase

Jun 4, 2026

MCT Muny Express Returns for 2026 Season

Jun 15, 2026