A Sunday night power outage that took down the entire city of Carmi is being blamed on a lightning strike. Authorities tell WROY/WRUL News that Ameren’s Norris City hub took a direct hit resulting in breaker B for Carmi being kicked out. To make matters worse, a tree fell on a line in the 5th Street neighborhood, additionally affecting some customers. Though it was warm out, the storm knocked temperatures down slightly and were accompanied with strong breezes. Crews worked quickly and service for the entire area was returned within about 45 minutes.
During the excessive heat warning that affected the entire listening area Thursday through Sunday, White County Ambulance Director Adam Allen tells us he received 18 calls in total. He says five of those could be associated directly with the heat. One of the those was an individual who was working in their yard and experienced a cardiac event. The other 4 were for breathing difficulties that Allen says could potentially have been brought on at least in part due to the excessive humidity.
