One death blamed on severe storms in metro-east; 54,000 without power at peak of outage

A Belleville man was pronounced dead Wednesday after emergency crews found him in contact with a live power line in an alley behind his home on South 18th Street.

According to Belleville Fire Chief Tom Pour, fire crews responded to the area at 5:15 p.m. for a report of smoke showing from a back yard. Pour said the man, who firefighters believe was in his 30s, was attempting to remove downed tree limbs that had fallen onto his rear garage.

The tree limbs brought down with them a live line that the man may not have known was there.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Storm sirens began sounding in Belleville around 3:50 p.m. Strong winds sent trees and utility poles tumbling throughout the metro-east, keeping area police and firefighters busy.

In Belleville, trees and limbs were reported to have fallen all over town, including a tree down on power lines along Carlyle Avenue and a tree down on a house on Mascoutah Avenue. Strong winds also ripped a metal railroad crossing gate in half at the crossing near Lindenwood University. A large tree fell in front of the Belleville Public Library branch on West Main Street, causing a partial blockage of the eastbound lanes.

Pour said the department responded to approximately 70 calls related to the storm.

In Swansea, a tree was reported down on a house on Kinsella Avenue, power lines and a transformer were reported down behind the CVS on Illinois Street and severe roof damage was reported at Collins Flooring at 2431 N. Illinois St.

Several fires were reported as a result of the storm, including in the Hollywood Heights area, Caseyville, New Athens and Dupo.

Dupo firefighters were so busy handling calls for trees and wires down and damage to structures that they asked the Prairie Du Pont Fire Department to bring one of their trucks and some more firefighters into Dupo to help.

In O’Fallon, a backyard fire was reported off Lincoln near the Southview Plaza shopping Center. Several cars and at least one mobile home were damaged in Shiloh when a tree came down in the 300 block of North Main Street.

In Freeburg, wires came down near the McDonalds at 708 N. State St.

Metrolink train service between the Shiloh-Scott and Fairview Heights stations resumed at 7:35 p.m. following a two-hour suspension due to power problems. Service also had been suspended between the Riverfront East and Emerson Park stations in East St. Louis due to storm damage, but service in that area was restored by 5 p.m.

At its peak, 54,177 Ameren Illinois customers were without power in an outage that darkened the metro-east. As of 8 p.m., 50,069 customers were without power.

A hazardous weather outlook had been issued for several metro-east counties, including St. Clair, Madison and Monroe counties.

Rain is expected to last throughout the evening and into Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

On Thursday, expect partly cloudy skies with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. The high will reach 90. It will be partly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Thursday night with a low around 70.

It will be mostly cloudy early in the morning Friday before becoming partly sunny. There’s a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms and highs will be in the mid 80s. For Friday night, expect partly cloudy skies with a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. The low will dip to the upper 60s.

This story was originally published July 13, 2016 at 6:50 AM with the headline "One death blamed on severe storms in metro-east; 54,000 without power at peak of outage."