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Washington County Board issues disaster declaration following Friday night severe storms

By Bruce Kropp Jul 2, 2023 | 9:10 AM
One of the 50 Tri-County Electric poles brought down by the June 30th storm. Photo: Tri-County Electric Facebook page.

Cleanup was underway across Washington County on Saturday before more severe storms crossed the county on Saturday afternoon resulting in a tornado warning for the Ashley area and severe thunderstorm warnings for the rest of the county.

The Friday night storms resulted in a large number of power outages, structural damage, downed trees, and resulting blocked roads. The Washington County Emergency Management Agency indicated it could take another 3 to four days for all power to be restored.  However, Ameren officials have indicated they hope to have most power restored to the Nashville area by late Sunday evening with complete restoration on Monday.  Cooling shelters have been opened at the Ashley Fire Department, Lighthouse Community Church in Nashville, and the Okawville Senior Center due to the anticipate hot temperatures on Sunday.

As of Sunday morning, 1,241 Ameren customers in Nashville were still without power with an additional 137 in Okawville, 98 in Addieville and 18 in Ashley.   Statewide, Ameren reported 69,143 still without power on Sunday morning.   At one point 182,000 were without power on Thursday and another 30,000 lost power in the Friday night storms.

Tri-County Electric reported over 2,000 customers in Jefferson and Washington Counties without power after the Friday night storms.  There were 50 broken poles in Washington County alone.  Tri-County expected to have most power restored by Saturday night, with remaining customers getting power back on Sunday.

The Kaskaskia College Nashville Education Center sustained some flood damage and was still without power as of Saturday night.  The center will be closed at least through Wednesday for cleanup.

Tri-County reminds everyone as always, to please stay away from downed power lines and report them immediately to Tri-County at 1-800-244-5151.