Thursday, July 20, 2006

In St Louis, National Guard Troops Mobilized....

... to help in storm recovery

Gov. Matt Blunt today mobilized troops from the Missouri National Guard to help the St. Louis area recover from Wednesday night's widespread storm damage.

About 230 members of the 1140th Engineer Batalion were sent to St. Louis from its annual training in Wappapello and Macon to assist with the storm cleanup; the Missouri Air National Guard's 218th Engineer Installation squadron had already sent 30 airmen, and the local senior command, 70th Troop Command, is mobilizing about 35 soldiers for the effort.

Earlier, with scorching temperatures and thousands without power, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay had asked the governor to declare the city a disaster area, echoing an earlier state of emergency declaration from St Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley.

I have heard reports of upwards of 450,000 homes & businesses in the area without power and possibly 3-5 days to restore it...



In a related news story:
A powerful summer storm slammed into the St. Louis area Wednesday evening, toppling buildings, street lights, tractor trailers and hundreds of trees.

At least 476,000 customers lost power, Metrolink was shut down and just one-third of flights were getting in and out of Lambert Field.

"This is one of the worst storms we can all remember to hit the city of St. Louis in recent years," St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said at a hurriedly called news conference.
More here.

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