Nearly 20 people have died across the country in the aftermath of the storms, and hundreds of thousands of people in Missouri and Illinois were still without electricity Monday.
In the city of St. Louis, two brothers, 35 and 37 years old, died from carbon monoxide poisoning. They had been burning charcoal in their home to stay warm. 2 other deaths have been linked to the cold in the city.
Area officials are trying to tell people not to stick out the cold in their homes if they have no heat. National Guard officers have been going door-to-door, checking on those without electricity. They have also found dozens of vehicles abandoned along roadways.
Temperatures were in the teens Monday morning, but felt much colder with the wind chill. Ameren is hoping temperatures will rise above freezing so that ice and snow on trees and power lines will melt.
On Monday morning, the number of Ameren customers still without power in Missouri and Illinois had dropped to 296,000, with 243,000 in the greater St. Louis area.
More than 7,000 utility workers are in the St. Louis area, 1,700 more than were on duty during the July storms that also knocked out electricity to hundreds of thousands.
