With winter storm warnings, watches and advisories issued for much of downstate Illinois, the Ameren Illinois Emergency Operations Center has declared a weather alert in preparation for tomorrow’s winter storm.

Ron Pate, Ameren Illinois vice president of operations and tech support, says Ameren is monitoring weather conditions for any changes that may impact service and all Ameren Illinois and contractor personnel have been placed on alert.

If necessary, Ameren Illinois is prepared to deploy the special Ameren Illinois Storm Trailers. These trailers are filled with materials field crews need to perform their service restoration work. The trailers can be moved to various staging sites to provide materials when outside crews come in to help with the restoration efforts and to provide a store of materials close to the area with the most damage.

In the event of wide-spread service outages, service restoration work will be directed by Ameren Illinois Emergency Operations Center.

Pate says to stay away from downed power lines and always contact Ameren or dial ‘911’ if you see downed lines,” Pate adds to never go outside during a power outage after sunset because you won't be able to see a downed power line that could still be energized and dangerous. He suggests staying away from brush, shrubs and downed trees that may hide downed lines.

In the event customers experience a power outage or loss of natural gas service, detailed safety and outage information is available at IllinoisOutage.com. Customers with mobile devices can visit www.ameren.mobi.

If your power goes out, call Ameren Illinois at any time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week – and always call as soon as possible to report a downed line or natural gas odor. The Ameren Illinois contact number is 1-800-755-7000. In addition to the safety and outage information available at IllinoisOutage.com, customers and media can receive timely updates on outage restoration by following the Ameren Illinois news feed at twitter.com/AmerenIllinois.