ALTON - As many as 2,500 Altonians were without power for more than an hour Tuesday evening as the result of a car crash. 

Ameren Illinois Executive Director of Communications Brian Bretsch said those customers lost power shortly after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday after a car struck a utility pole in the 1800 block of Central Ave. He said crews were dispatched to the scene by 10:04 p.m. and power was restored to all customers by 10:55 p.m. after crews were able to assess the situation and make a switch. 

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Social media was rife with speculation on the incident last evening, with some Ameren Illinois customers posting things such as "my power is out and it sounds like a riot is going on outside with all of the sirens." A call from Riverbender.com to the Alton Police Department around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday revealed the sirens were simply the fire department responding to the scene. 

At that time, police were unsure of the cause of the outage. 

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