GOREVILLE, IL (WSIL) -- Tens of thousands of people found themselves without power after Sunday's storms as linemen work extra hours to restore power as quickly as possible.
"When it entered our part of the service territory, we experienced at a peak somewhere around 10,000 out of power across our service territory," said Loyd Rice, senior manager for SEMO Electric.
One of the biggest issues facing SEMO Electric linemen is poles broken in half.
"The polls due to this storm down at 110 poles in our service territory," said Rice.
Replacing polls in southern Illinois is also an issue for Ameren.
"It was a high wind event," said Luke Wollin, Vice President of Electric Operations for Ameren. "We know there are reports of tornadoes down around Lake of Egypt, and so a lot of broken poles. We've had about 120 or so broken poles that have had to be replaced."
Wollin says about 37,000 customers lost power after Sunday's storms and access to some of the rural areas of southern Illinois is made more difficult when dealing with storm damage.
"The terrain there can be difficult to get the equipment into the locations where we need to perform the work," said Wollin. "A lot of times we're trying to bring in specialized equipment. The crews, the material, so we have to work to get the equipment there."
The National Weather Service confirmed Monday an EF 3 tornado hit Johnson County with more reports expected in the coming days. One official from the National Weather Service describes what it takes to snap a power poll during a storm.
"A tree might be uprooted at about 95 Miles Per Hour, but a power poll usually snaps at 115 to 118," said National Weather Service Lead meteorologist Darrick Snyder.
And as fast and safe as linemen work to replace hundreds of polls, Wollin says it's still work that takes time.
"It takes several hours for a crew to pull the old pole out safely, remove it, put the new one in, compact the ground around it, replace the wire all of that action has to take place, takes, takes time," said Wollin.
