The lights are back on throughout Kewanee, but cleanup efforts are still going on after Monday’s tornado activity.
As of Thursday evening, Ameren Illinois was reporting no outages in Kewanee. About 4,000 Ameren customers had lost their power in the storm.
A crew of hundreds of utility company linemen, with a variety of trucks and other vehicles, came to Kewanee Wednesday and Thursday to help repair power lines that had been knocked out by Monday night’s winds. Those winds, a result of two EF1 tornadoes, were measured at as much as 112 mph.
The job of clearing away fallen trees and brush from the storm continues today. Much progress has been made in this effort, and fallen limbs and sawed-up tree trunks can be seen lining the parking strips throughout the city.
The city has announced that local residents can bring tree debris to the former Kewanee Hospital parking lot on West Division Street and a large pile has already accumulated as residents have taken advantage of the offer.
But the brush drop off at the former hosptial site is available only to private residents. Contractors working on tree removal must purchase a brush pass at City Hall and drop it off at the city’s contractor site.
To help with the brush-clearing effort, the Kewanee Fire Chief has announced that open burning will be allowed on Sunday, July 21, and Monday, July 22.
Open burning normally is prohibited in July.
