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| Ice Causes Slick Roads, Power Outages |
updated 11:36am, 12/19/8 The weather, as predicted by the National Weather Service, left behind a thick coating of ice that's still giving motorists problems in northern and central Illinois.
The freezing rain started falling early last night and totaled a half-inch of accumulation by early Friday morning.
State police and the Illinois Department of Transportation have said if you don't have to travel today----don't. The slippery roads have resulted several accidents, the vast majority of them minor, and sent vehicles off into ditches.
The icy weather also caused thousands of power outages. Ameren IP is reporting 42,000 customers in central Illinois are still without electricity and the utility has assigned more than 1,100 employees to restore the service. Most of the outages occurred in an area stretching from Macomb through Peoria, Bloomington, Lincoln and east through Champaign. Officials say the goal is to have nearly all service restored by Saturday night if weather conditions don't deteriorate. A significant number of the outages will be restored by midnight Friday.
Major outages are also reported by the Spoon River and McDonough electric cooperatives. Officials with the co-ops say crews are working around the clock to get electricity restored to the affected customers.
The outages were caused by ice that built up on power lines and tree limbs that fell onto those lines. People are warned to stay away from downed power lines, which may still be energized. Residents should also stay away from brush and downed trees, which may hide downed wires.
(A look Friday morning outside the WGIL Studios. Photo by Will Stevenson.)
(Following WGIL News Photos by Rick Heath.)
(Rick Heath gives us a look at the WGIL Transmitter site on South Farnham Street.)
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| 12 18 08 by Newsroom |
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