GRANITE CITY — Ameren Illinois line workers, contractors and support personnel continued restoration efforts Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Madison County following severe weather that left thousands without power.
Ameren Illinois workers and contractors worked throughout the day and night on Saturday, May 17, 2025, on power restoration efforts.
The storm, which moved east from the Mississippi River through parts of the Ameren Illinois service territory on Friday, May 16, 2025, caused power outages for approximately 42,000 customers at its peak around 5:30 p.m. Bretsch said within 12 hours, about 55 percent of those customers had their electricity restored.
Granite City was the hardest hit community, experiencing a direct impact from the severe weather. At the height of the outage, more than 18,000 customers in Madison County were without power. Damage assessments revealed nearly 90 utility poles severely damaged or down, along with other supporting infrastructure.
Other communities affected included Alton, East St. Louis, Decatur, Lincoln, Bloomington and Marion.
Ameren Illinois mobilized all available resources to assist with restoration efforts. By 4:20 p.m. Saturday, nearly 75 percent of customers had their power restored.
Crews returned to Granite City Sunday morning, joined by additional personnel to accelerate repairs. Ameren Illinois estimated that most remaining customers would have power restored by 6 p.m. Sunday, though some individual customers with service wires down to their homes may experience longer outages. Restoration work will continue until all customers have service restored.
