Hundreds of people are already without power Friday afternoon as high winds begin to pick up in Mid-Missouri.

Severe weather is expected to roll through Mid-Missouri Friday afternoon and early evening, prompting the ABC 17 News Stormtrack Weather Team to declare today as a Weather Alert Day .

Nearly 300 Miller County electric customers were without power, according to the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives outage map. At 2:30 p.m., there were just 15 customers without power. Another 222 members of Crawford Electric have no power in Crawford County.

Another 222 members of Crawford Electric have no power in Crawford County.

Ameren’s outage map shows a significant number of outages in the eastern part of the state. However, 31 Ameren customers in Callaway County area experiencing outages. There were 62 Ameren customers without power in Morgan County.

Boone County Office of Emergency Management at Level 3

The Boone County Office of Emergency Management wrote in a Friday afternoon press release that it is at a Level 3 activation ahead of the storms. OEM staff is actively monitoring conditions and are available to coordinate resources as requested.

Kehoe issues executive order declaring state of emergency

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed an executive order on Friday that declared a state of emergency in the state ahead of the storms.

““The National Weather Service has warned that this fast-approaching storm is likely to bring severe weather across the state, including high winds and an increased risk of tornadoes,” Kehoe said in the release. “I urge all Missourians to stay alert, monitor weather forecasts, and follow official warnings.”

The Missouri State Emergency Operations Plan -- which enables state agencies to coordinate directly with local jurisdictions to provide assistance – has been activated by the order, the release says.

Check back for updates to this developing story.