Winter storm leads to widespread power outages

 

SUMMIT, Wis. (CBS 58) -- One of the most serious winter storms Southeast Wisconsin has experienced in years led to power outages across the region Friday night.

We Energies' outage map showed nearly 67,000 customers were without power as of 8:30 p.m. Friday.

Brendan Conway, a spokesman for We Energies, said in an email the utility had restored power to more than 60,000 customers throughout the day.

A line of homes in Summit, near Sawyer Road and I-94, was among the properties to lose electricity. Andrew Ohlsson said he's lived in one of those houses for more than six years, and this was the first time he experienced a power outage due to winter weather.

"It went out at 2:00 [p.m.]," Ohlsson said. "It flickered, came back on, and went out again."

"As soon as it went out, I grabbed ice from the freezer, moved it to the refrigerator. Got some candles out. Had to finish up working; I work out of my house. I had to use the hotspot on my cell phone."

The We Energies outage map indicated more than 1,500 customers lost power during that particular outage. By 5:30 Friday evening, power had been restored to those homes.

"I was working on my computer, watching the snow," Mark Dillon, who lives down the street from Ohlsson, said. "It went out, took a nap, and I'm all ready to do some snowblowin'."

The number of outages early Friday evening was around 40,000. But as snow continued to pile up and winds got stronger, the number of outages increased.

A CBS 58 crew saw a series of power flashes near the intersection of W. Bluemound Rd. and Sunnyslope Rd. along the border between Brookfield and Elm Grove.

The strain on power lines is real, people. This is near the intersection of Bluemound and Sunnyslope on the Brookfield/Elm Grove border pic.twitter.com/ez3AcCcWFT

— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) January 13, 2024

The crew observed traffic lights that were out in both Brookfield and the west side of Milwaukee as it traveled to areas with widespread outages.

Conway said dangerous road conditions were also contributing to the outages. He cited one instance where a truck crashed into a power pole in Jefferson County.

Conway added We Energies expected to see outages continue to pop up as the storm hovers over Southeast Wisconsin into Saturday morning.

The utility cautioned anyone who sees a downed power line to stay at least 25 feet away and to report the location to both We Energies and local police.