A quick but violent torrent of rain along with strong winds disrupted a Wednesday night (July 26) Festus City Council meeting. First the lights flickered on and off; then a police officer came into the council room to tell city finance director Pat Parsons a tree had fallen on her car.
This morning (July 27), Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis said Parsons’ vehicle, parked on the back lot at City Hall, was still engulfed by the tree. He said weather damage appeared to be largely isolated to the area around City Hall and nearby Sunset Park.
“A lot of stuff blew through the northern part of the city,” he said. “But the damage was pretty much around here. A tree crushed a pavilion in the park.”
He said one of two City Hall generators was damaged when the generators kicked on during the power outage.
Ameren Missouri spokesman Brad Brown said 5,000 customers lost power in Festus, Crystal City and Herculaneum when the storm struck about 7:30 p.m.
“The bulk of them were restored to power by midnight,” he said.
He said a few isolated customers remained without power as of this morning.
Herculaneum and Crystal City police spokespeople said they had received no reports of significant damages in their cities.