Gusts Uproot Pine Tree, Knocks Out Chesterfield's Lights Wednesday

Electrical power went out on a busy commercial stretch of Clarkson Road in Chesterfield, at about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, when an uprooted pine tree crashed onto a primary electrical line.

Ameren said crews got the feeder or primary line up and running an hour later, at 12:45 p.m.

Some power for traffic lights was not restored until 2 p.m.

The offending tree was on Old Clarkson Road at Baxter. Winds gusted up to 25 mph Wednesday noon, according to Weather Channel.

Power was out on Clarkson Road between Baxter Road and just east of Highway 40/64. Customers there include , , . and more.

Employees at , and in the area reported Ameren told them power wouldn't be restored until at least 5 p.m. Wednesday.

did not lose power, according to mall security contacted by phone during the hour blackout on Clarkson Road.

Ron Edelsen, a store manager at , said power went down at the store, but backup generators kept most things running—like cash registers.

However, Dierberg's was blocking off the frozen foods section of the store with rows of shopping carts, to keep shoppers from opening freezers and letting out what cold air there was. The measure would keep freezers colder for as long as possible, and avoid potential loss of frozen foods.

During the blackout, an Ameren worker along Baxter Road—the roads are torn up for widening—did not yet know the cause of the outage.

"I'm trying to figure it out," he said.

Police were briefly gathered in numbers at the underpass on Clarkson Road at Highway 40/64, however traffic lights appeared to be operating.

, and also appeared to be dark at about 1 p.m. Wednesday.