Power Restoration in the Face of Nature's Fury: How Utilities Tackle Storm Damage

Over the last year, severe storms have swallowed up poles, ripped down transmission towers and left customers in the dark. As heroes and first responders, lineworkers have swiftly arrived on the scene to restore power and rebuild communities devastated by floods, hurricanes, microbursts, bomb cyclones and ice storms.

Electric utilities often prepare for storms year-round, and before the first raindrop falls or high winds knock down a power line, they have crews in position to handle whatever comes their way. As the frequency and intensity of severe weather continue to escalate, line crews are ready to respond.

Here are the stories of some of the countless storms that impacted utilities’ service territories over the past year — from a bomb cyclone in Puget Sound Energy in November 2024 to the Consumers Energy ice storm in April 2025 and tornadoes in Ameren’s Illinois and Missouri service territory a month later. 

Twister Spins Through Missouri and Illinois

The sky over Ameren’s service territory suddenly turned green on the afternoon of May 16, 2025, alerting both the utility’s customers and line crews to impending tornadoes. Before the twisters even touched the ground, the teams prepared to mobilize crews and resources to respond swiftly to the wrath of the storm. 

In St. Louis, the EF-3 tornado had recorded maximum wind speeds of 152 mph. The tornado traveled nearly 23 miles, spinning over the Mississippi River to Granite City before dissipating in Edwardsville, Illinois. Another tornado — classified as EF4 — had maximum recorded wind speeds of 190 mph and traveled for about 17 miles in Marion, Illinois. 

The tornadoes not only caused destruction, but they also led to widespread outages to an estimated 216,500 customers in Missouri and 75,000 in Illinois. Following the storms, Ameren teams assessed damage, began restoring power and alerted customers, media, community organizations and government officials of the status of restoration. 

Ameren crews partnered with contractors and mutual assistance teams from across the Midwest to replace 800 poles decimated by the storm and to support community recovery efforts. In Missouri alone, the storm took down 730 power poles, toppled mature trees and collapsed structures. Ameren Illinois crews and contractors restored power to communities before traveling across the state line to help Ameren Missouri lineworkers reconnect customers. 

The severe weather damaged both the electric and natural gas systems. Case in point: on the electric side, about 260 Ameren Illinois sub-transmission and distribution poles were damaged or downed, and the utility experienced a significant amount of wire-damage reports and damage to substations. 

Jamie Simmons, a supervisor for Ameren Illinois, said Granite City, Illinois, was hit the hardest by the tornado that touched down on May 16. Crews worked well into the evening, and within 12 hours of the storm, 55% of customers had their power restored. 

“It caused significant damage to the community and our electric grid,” Simmons said. “There was substantial tree damage — trees in the road, trees on houses and trees on electrical equipment — making it extremely difficult for our crews to access the area to make repairs to our poles and lines.”

Amanda Brittingham, senior director of metro operations and contractor management for Ameren Missouri, said one of the biggest challenges in the days after the storm was getting safe access to damaged infrastructure due to the large amount of debris. 

“Overcoming this obstacle required close coordination with emergency responders and state local partners,” she said. “And thanks to the efforts of our linemen and support from peer utilities and contractors across the country, we were able to restore 100,000 customers in the first 48 hours after the tornado struck.” 

While the power has been restored to all homes safe for restoration, the community, particularly in north St. Louis, is still hurting from the tornado that ripped through homes, businesses and institutions. To assist with recovery efforts from the storm and tornado that hit the St. Louis metropolitan region and surrounding areas, Ameren donated $1 million in recovery efforts. 

For example, Ameren is providing $750,000 to community organizations like the United Way of Greater St. Louis, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and the City of St. Louis Tornado Response Fund to help with ongoing recovery efforts. The donations will fund relief efforts for critical services like relocation assistance, tree removal, property cleanup, emergency repairs, temporary housing, food, clothing, essential supplies and transportation. In addition, Ameren will provide $250,000 in energy assistance support for income-eligible customers impacted by the storms in Missouri and Illinois. 

"These devastating storms struck at the heart of our communities, impacting our customers, employees, neighbors and friends," said Martin J. Lyons Jr., chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ameren. "Seeing the damage firsthand is heartbreaking, but our crews are working tirelessly to rebuild what's been lost. This $1 million commitment is one more way we're standing shoulder to shoulder with the communities we serve as they begin the long road to recovery."

Bomb Cyclone Tests Emergency Response

In what meteorologists called one of the most destructive storms to hit the Puget Sound region in 40 years, Puget Sound Energy (PSE) mounted an epic response to restore power and ensure public safety during a bomb cyclone event on Nov. 19, 2024. The storm left a path of destruction that resulted in more than 700,000 customers experiencing service interruptions, some more than once, in PSE’s service area.  

PSE's meteorology team identified the approaching storm system nearly a week in advance, allowing the utility to implement emergency protocols and position resources where needed. The storm's intensity, which was very compact in high urban areas, was comparable to the historic 2006 Hanukkah Eve storm, and prompted PSE to proactively open four local storm bases and its Emergency Coordination Center. 

"The conditions our crews faced were extraordinary," said Ryan Murphy, PSE's director of electric operations. "In many areas, it was like working simultaneously at a logging site and a construction zone, with hundreds of fallen trees blocking access to damaged infrastructure." 

The utility mobilized more than 2,700 personnel, including 164 line crews and 70 tree crews, to support restoration efforts. Despite challenging conditions that often doubled typical repair times, crews worked systematically to restore power, prioritizing life-safety issues and essential services, such as hospitals and schools. 

The storm's impact extended beyond power outages. PSE's gas emergency response teams handled a 64% increase in daily emergency calls, with King County customers accounting for 57% of incidents. Teams responded to numerous broken pipelines caused by uprooted trees, carbon monoxide calls related to improper generator use and gas odor reports. 

PSE's emergency response systems, including its backup operations center, proved effective during the storm. 

“The greatest success of this historic and dangerous storm was that restoration was safely completed without a major injury to a community member or first responder,” Murphy said.

When communication issues affected the main facility, the utility's preparation and coordinated response helped ensure community safety and quick service restoration. This event provided valuable insights for future emergency response, with PSE already implementing enhanced training and system improvements, based on lessons learned during this historic weather event. 

Infrastructure Ices Over in Michigan

Just a half an inch of ice on a line is equivalent to the weight of a baby grand piano, according to Consumers Energy, which experienced a severe ice storm in April 2025 with up to 1 in. of ice accumulation in many areas and one-and-half in. in Elmira, Michigan, a small town in the utility’s service territory. 

The combination of this weight on the lines themselves, as well as on the trees surrounding them, made the initial damage severe. Because the temperatures remained cold for the first several days, it also meant that fallen debris froze together and was difficult to disentangle. In some instances, roads were impassible due to the frozen debris across it.

The accumulation of ice on equipment also made it difficult for crews to access areas to restore power. In those instances, unless crews were able to find ways to speed up the thaw, they had to wait for the ice to melt. 

Before the storm even hit Michigan, it was already on the radar of Consumers Energy’s in-house meteorologist, who works directly with the National Weather Service to provide regular updates on potential severe weather that could impact the grid. For this particular storm, Consumers Energy knew about a week ahead of time that not only would it be a significant event, but also that there would be multiple waves impacting different parts of the state.

“This knowledge allowed us to prepare well in advance of the most severe parts of the storm hitting,” said Eric Wojciechowski, Consumers Energy’s director of emergency response. “We had already located two mobile command units and thousands of workers up north by Saturday morning before the first wave hit up north. We began mobilizing additional crews as well as bringing in support crews from four other states very early in the process. Though it was not all at one time, given the multiple waves, the total number of outages we had due to the storm was just north of 390,000.” 

Not only ice, but also tornadoes and high winds inflicted damage. The National Weather Service confirmed that 14 tornadoes touched down in various lower portions of the state that Sunday evening.

“Many locations saw gusts of wind up to 80 mph, and in some places, 90 mph was even registered. With high winds always comes damage, whether from lines snapping or trees falling on them. Of the 390,000 total outages, more than 260,000 occurred downstate.”

For example, a journeyman lineworker from Consumer Energy’s Battle Creek Service Center reported trees down from the high winds and tornado. At that point during the storm response, he said the line crews were working their hardest, trying to be safe while putting up lines and wouldn’t stop until every customer was restored.  

Crews from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio worked alongside in-state lineworkers to restore power. The mobilization of these crews — combined with the advanced preparation to place them and their supplies in the impacted areas — allowed the utility to work quickly in the aftermath of the storm. In total, about 800 crews were staged around the state. To house and feed this many lineworkers, Consumers Energy leveraged partnerships with organizations like Camp Grayling, which hosted more than 2,000 workers Friday evening and Saturday morning as they prepared for the arrival of the storm Saturday night. 

By setting up mobile command units, the utility had a centralized location for area crews and supplies to be directed, creating a more efficient flow of labor and resources as restorations occur. Once a team was done, they could quickly return to the mobile command unit and receive the next assignment, regain supplies, troubleshoot issues and provide updates from the field.

As some of the customers warmed up in special centers, organized by local non-profits and the Red Cross, Consumers Energy focused first on restoring critical infrastructure like hospitals and water treatment facilities and then zoned in on restorations that would bring the most customers back online at a time. As the number of outages began to decline, the line crews narrowed their focus to the more difficult or complicated restorations. Throughout the storm restoration effort, the tree crews, lineworkers and dispatchers were working above and beyond the call of duty.

“Crews were working in frigid temperatures, in 16-hour shifts around the clock,” Wojciechowski said. “There’s a popular photo that circulated from a source up north of one of our workers with his beard entirely frozen.” 

As the weather continues to cause challenges nationwide, Consumers Energy is investing in its Reliability Roadmap, which outlines the investments the utility intends to make over the coming years in the grid. For example, the utility is planning to execute everything from increased tree trimming to infrastructure upgrades to piloting technologies like undergrounding to strengthen and prepare it to better withstand severe weather of all kinds.

“The unfortunate reality is that we know our climate is changing, and with it, so are weather patterns,” Wojciechowski said. “We are seeing storms happen more frequently and with more severity, and while we cannot control the weather, we can control our response to it.” 

Tonya Berry, senior vice president of transformation and engineering, said the number one job for Consumers Energy is to keep the lights on regardless of the weather.

“Consistent with our commitment to improve service reliability, Consumers Energy has established new grid performance expectations that better reflect the reality of what Mother Nature is sending our way,” Berry said. “We are sharing these customer service commitments for the first time, reinforcing our ‘Count on Us’ promise to the nearly 2 million electric customers we have the privilege of serving.”