Hundreds left without power due to a rotten tree in Swansea

Downed power lines near Route 159 on Thursday left hundreds without power in Swansea.

The culprit was a rotted tree that fell onto a power lines, which pulled down five electrical poles along Illinois 159, near the Villas at Crystal Lake apartments in the 3700 block of Round Hill Road. It caused about 400 residents to go without power at around 4 p.m., said Brian Bretsch, a spokesman for Ameren Illinois.

Crews were able isolate the outage and restore power to about 200 customers within 90 minutes of the outage, Bretsch said. Crews worked through the evening hours and were able to restore power to the remaining customers at approximately 1:20 a.m.

Ameren bucket trucks and fire engines lines lined Illinois 159 for roughly a half-mile stretch to Huntwood Road. Swansea police took to social media to warn drivers to avoid the area. Still, work installing new poles was delayed by traffic on Illinois 159, said Bretsch.

“It is important for our customers and your readers to know that there were no trees near our right-of-way,” said Bretsch.

There were no injuries reported in the incident.