The Ameren Illinois Utilities field crews are working 16-hour shifts to provide around the clock coverage to restore electrical service to thousands of customers in the wake of yet another round of severe summer thunderstorms that pounded southwestern Illinois Tuesday evening.

Approximately 600 linemen, 200 tree trimmers and 200 support personnel have been assigned to the storm restoration effort. The service recovery effort is being directed by the Ameren Illinois Utilities Emergency Operations Center.

Outages first peaked at about 28,000 Tuesday morning, but were reduced to about 8,000 by evening. Then the next round of storms pushed outages back up to a total of about 33,000 Tuesday night. As of 9 a.m. today, the number of outages had been reduced to about 9,000.

It is estimated that most customers will have their service restored this afternoon and early evening. However, isolated outages may persist until Thursday. In addition, additional severe weather may result in additional outages or hamper ongoing restoration work.

In addition, the Ameren Illinois Utilities are prepared for the possibility of severe weather that has been forecasted for southern Illinois this afternoon.