ST. LOUIS, July 26  Thousands of workers today resumed efforts to restore electricity throughout the St. Louis region, which was hit last week by violent storms that felled trees and caused other damage. An estimated 83,000 customers were still without power at midafternoon today.  The repair effort was interrupted Tuesday when a worker was killed when he accidentally stepped on a live wire in a suburban back yard. Another electrical worker was injured in a separate accident but was expected to recover.  Robert Tackett, 56, a line repairman from St. Charles, Mo., was killed when he stepped on the line, which was obscured by leaves and trash in the rear of a home in Ladue, Mo. The home is owned by William Busch, a member of the Anheuser-Busch brewing family.  A union official described Mr. Tackett as a very qualified journeyman, an extremely safety-conscious guy and suggested that fatigue from long working hours and sleepless nights may have contributed to the accident.  Leo Beishir, business manager for Local 1439 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents most of the regions linemen, said most of the workers did not have power in their own homes. He said most were working 18-hour days and when you still dont have any lights at your own home, you dont get much rest on a hot night.  He said the workers were being cautioned to be alert to danger: We are reminding everybody to keep their wits about them.  The other worker, Jesse Warren, 23, of Topeka, Kan., touched a line carrying power and was able to scream for help before he lost consciousness. Paramedics rushed him to a hospital where he is recovering.  Mr. Warren was one of 3,000 utility workers from 13 surrounding states who have been assisting 1,000 workers from the local power company, Ameren UE, since high winds last Wednesday caused extensive damage. A second storm on Friday added to the damage and cut power to about 600,000 customers at one time or another, Ameren reported.  The out-of-town workers were being housed in hotels an college dormitories and company employees have established an emergency laundry in the headquarters parking lot to assist them. They are also distributing ice and other supplies to workers in the field.  Among those 7,000 still without power today in hard-hit Florissant was Pam Flotte, who had been enduring 95-degree heat in her home each evening after work, with a leaking refrigerator and freezer that damaged the floors.  Some relief came Tuesday, when the four members of the Flotte family were able to move into the home of a neighbor whose power was restored, along with the neighbors married daughter and week-old child.  Mrs. Flotte said her family has resisted the temptation to eat at restaurants during this period of storing food in a cooler. Were living on peanut butter, ham and hotdogs, she said.  Mayor Francis Slay of St. Louis announced today that eight hot meal centers were being opened in the city, and expected to serve 20,000 people per day. The Salvation Army said to date it had provided food and shelter for 250,000 people in connection with the power failures.  Power was out in scattered areas around the region including several across the Mississippi River in Illinois. Utility officials said they expected all power to be restored by Thursday.  Susan Gallagher, a spokeswoman for Ameren, said the damage caused by the storms was the worst in the companys 100-year history, although the costs have not yet been tallied. Weve been focused on getting customers back on and we dont have costs yet, she said.  She said the storms damaged 400 distribution lines, three times the number usually affected by powerful storms.  An industry group that tracks electricity consumption said today that last weeks heat contributed to record power demand throughout the country.  In the week ending July 22, according to the Edison Electric Institute, American utility companies delivered 96,314 gigawatt hours, breaking the record set a year ago by more than 1 percent. A gigawatt is a billion watts.  Temperatures eased downward today in the Los Angeles area and the operator of Californias power grid said it did not anticipate ordering any blackouts, although it said conservation was still needed.  Nevertheless, some parts of the region, particularly the valleys and mountains near the city, remained under heat alerts, and thousands of houses and businesses remained without power after the prolonged heat wave led to the failure of neighborhood transformers.  Triple digit temperatures were expected in the mountains and low elevations, according to the National Weather Service. One area, Woodland Hills, had 21 consecutive days of peak temperatures over 100 degrees including a Los Angeles County record of 119 degrees on Saturday.  A peak of 105 was predicted for the area today.  Despite the decrease in peak temperatures in the Los Angeles, the region will remain hot with a midafternoon high predicted at 86 degrees.  Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa urged residents to conserve energy to protect the local distribution system. Understand, this is not a supply problem, he said. We have record use of energy, but we have a sufficient supply. Its a distribution issue. These transformers are going out across the city because of record-breaking temperatures and the demand on electricity.  Nevertheless, the Independent System Operator, which transmits about 80 percent of Californias power said it expected at about 49,500 megawatts today, after exceeding 50,000 megawatts earlier in the week. Demand was expected to fall to about 46,250 megawatts on Thursday, the agency said.  Jim Orso reported from St. Louis for this article and John Holusha from New York.
Electric workers returned to their efforts in St. Louis after a break to honor an electrocuted colleague, while falling temperatures helped avert blackouts in California.