We Energies power outages, Friday wind downs trees and power lines
High winds impact southeastern Wisconsin
High winds slammed southeastern Wisconsin on Friday, March 13. And that's not all...snow, ice, and even thunderstorms are in store for the weekend. So now is the time to prepare.
MILWAUKEE - Tens of thousands of We Energies customers across Wisconsin lost power due to Friday's damaging winds, and help is being called in from out of state to get power restored.
What's next:
We Energies said crews have restored service to more than 83,000 customers since Friday morning. On Saturday, lineworkers are arriving from Arkansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri to help restore power in Wisconsin.
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Strong wind gusts, which reached nearly 70 mph in southeast Wisconsin, knocked down large trees and power lines – snapping poles and causing widespread outages.
"It is, Wisconsin, but this is unique in the fact that we're seeing these high wind events that's lasting so long," said We Energies' Brendan Conway. "We knew we'd see some outages, and we thought we had a great handle on it until the wind blew through. Luckily, we did have extra crews."
We Energies winter storm preparation
Wisconsin Live Desk talks with Brendan Conway with We Energies about winter storm preparation.
We Energies expects 90% of customers without power to have it restored by Saturday night, March 14. All customers are expected to have power back by Sunday afternoon, March 15.
What you can do:
You can check out the full outage map on the We Energies website. The public is reminded to stay at least 25 feet away from downed wires and report them immediately to We Energies or local law enforcement.
Southeast Wisconsin winter storm watch; snow, ice, dangerous wind gusts
A winter storm watch has been issued for southern Wisconsin as a weekend storm could bring snow, ice, strong winds and dangerous travel from Saturday night through Monday.
Photo gallery: Wind damage on Friday, March 13
The Source: Information in this post is sourced from We Energies and FOX6 News crews who are monitoring damage and outages around southeast Wisconsin.