Strong storm brings wind, hail to St. Louis area

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Nearly 30,000 Ameren Corp. customers in the St. Louis area are without power after a strong thunderstorm hit the region.

The storm Wednesday afternoon brought heavy rain, strong winds and golf ball-sized hail to some parts of the region. Most of the outages are in St. Louis County.

The storm knocked down trees and damaged cars and homes in some areas.

Several Illinois counties east of St. Louis remained under a severe thunderstorm warning through 7 p.m. Wednesday.