siuDE.com

Media Credit: Emily Sunblade Saksham Puri, a 7th grade student at Unity Point Elementary school, and Rahul Puri, an 8th grade student, complete their homework by candlelight during a power outage at Evergreen Terrace Tuesday. Rajnish Puri, the father of the two boys, said the power had been out since 6:15 p.m.

Tuesday evening storms had electrical workers struggling to restore power to roughly 2,600 people throughout southern Illinois, leaving one power company with more widespread outages than it had experienced in some time.

Buildings across Carbondale, including the Stone Center, University Farms, Evergreen Terrace and buildings located on McLafferty Road, were without power as a result of the Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association outage, said SIUC spokesman Rod Sievers.

Buildings with electricity provided by the university were not affected, he said.

The Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association had a message played when calling an 800 number listed on the Web site. The message reported power outages in Carbondale, Marion, Murphysboro and other cities in southern Illinois.

A statement posted on the company's Web site at 6:15 p.m. reported scattered outages, affecting about 2,600 people. The statement cited severe winter weather as the cause of the outages. As of 9:01 p.m., there was no estimated time of restoring power.

"This storm has caused more widespread outages than we have experienced in some time," said Mark Stallons, executive vice president and general manager of Egyptian Electric. "All of our crews and staff will be working through the night to restore service."

Rajnish Puri, a resident of Evergreen Terrace, said the power went out at about 6:15 p.m. He reported the outage at about 7:45 p.m. and was told there was no estimated time of restoring power.

"They have no idea when it will be back on," Puri said.

Puri said he has lived in Evergreen Terrace for two years and said the power had gone out under similar circumstances last year.

Madeleine Leroux can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 268 or mleroux@siu.edu.

Article Tools