Severe storms barreled through the St. Louis region on Saturday, knocking out power to roughly 70,000 people across Missouri and Illinois and abruptly plunging neighborhoods — and a few backyard holiday parties — into the dark. The outages hit on a packed Fourth of July weekend, sending residents scrambling for generators, battery packs and any public space with air-conditioning while crews fanned out to check for damage.
According to an early roundup from First Alert 4, using data from Ameren’s live outage tools, about 63,577 customers were without power on the Missouri side and roughly 9,566 in Illinois at the height of the outage. Those figures shifted through the afternoon as new outages were reported and repairs came online.
Where outages are concentrated
Live outage trackers show the disruption scattered across the metro rather than confined to a single hard-hit pocket. Statewide data from PowerOutage.us lists Ameren as the largest affected utility in Missouri, with county tables showing clusters in St. Louis City and St. Louis County. On the Illinois side of the river, the state page at PowerOutage.us flags outages in St. Clair and Madison counties.
How to report an outage and what crews say
Local governments and utilities are urging residents to treat any downed line as live, stay away from it and call it in. Ameren customers are asked to report outages by calling 1-800-552-7583 or using the Ameren outage map and mobile app, St. Charles County notes on its information page. Counties also remind people to call emergency services for immediate hazards and to use non-emergency lines to report storm damage once it is safe to do so.
Where to go if you lose power
The City of St. Louis keeps a running list of public cooling sites and advises calling 2-1-1 for the most current locations and hours during periods of extreme heat or extended outages. Public libraries, community centers and nonprofit partners frequently open as cooling centers during heat emergencies, and city officials stress that those spots are especially important for older residents and people with medical needs.
Crews were working across the region to assess downed lines and damaged equipment, and restoration timelines will depend on how extensive the damage is and how many customers each fix can bring back online. For the latest service status and restoration estimates, check the Ameren outage map and your utility account for updates.
