St. Louis: Heat, power outages raise concerns; 500,000 homes, businesses powerless
ST. LOUIS - The governor sent in the National Guard to evacuate people from their sweltering homes and utility crews raced to restore electricity Thursday after storms knocked out power to nearly 500,000 St. Louis-area homes and businesses in the middle of a searing heat wave that has killed at least 17 people across the country.
With forecasters expecting another day of 100-degree heat, Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency and granted the mayor’s request to send in 250 troops to transport people from hot homes to cooling centers, and to clear debris.
Police used public-address speakers from their squad cars to announce locations of cooling centers. Volunteers went door to door checking on people without power to run air conditioners....