Wisconsin Public Service has wrapped up work in Door County but continues to restore power to over 30,000 customers in northern Wisconsin. Efforts are ongoing on Washington Island, resulting in the closure of the Washington Island School District for a second consecutive day. With another weather system expected to bring snow, freezing rain, and sleet to the area on Tuesday, crews and residents are working hard to recover from the weekend’s storms.
As of 10 a.m. on Monday, more than 54,700 Wisconsin Public Service customers across the state were still without power after up to a half-inch of ice coated the area, along with rain and snow. Door County had approximately 1,300 WPS customers without power, an improvement of nearly 1,000 from Sunday night. Downed trees and power lines were the primary causes of the outages, with at least two reports of blown transformers.
There were over 20 incidents of down trees and a dozen wire-down reports from Friday night to Monday morning. On Sunday alone, more than eight fire calls were made to local departments, many due to downed power lines. The Washington Island Electric Cooperative has been addressing power outages almost continuously since Friday night.
The power outages necessitated the opening of the community center as a warming shelter through Tuesday morning and led to the cancellation of classes at Washington Island School on Monday. Door County Emergency Management Director Jeb Saelens anticipates the cleanup and restoration effort could take several days but reassures that the community is resilient. In Sturgeon Bay, the situation was relatively better, with only a few outages caused by the weekend ice storm.
Four linemen from Sturgeon Bay Utilities (SBU) were sent to assist Gresham Utilities on Monday morning under the Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin (MEUW) Mutual Aid Assistance Program. Electric Utility Manager Jason Bieri notes that MEUW membership provides access to over 300 municipal electric linemen in Wisconsin during large-scale outage events. SBU’s crew of eight linemen regularly assists other MEUW member communities during storm events.
The National Weather Service has warned that another weather system is expected to hit the area Tuesday evening and last into Wednesday morning, with predictions of up to four inches of snow and a tenth of an inch of ice. Gov.
Northern Wisconsin power restoration updates
Tony Evers today signed Executive Order #256, declaring a state of emergency due to severe winter weather, including heavy ice and snow, affecting large portions of Northern Wisconsin. “As Northern Wisconsin still works to recover from severe weather over the weekend, with more storms on the way tonight, this declaration will help support local efforts to restore power where there are outages, support local efforts to clear debris, set up warming shelters, and respond to local emerging needs, and keep folks, families, and communities safe,” said Gov. Evers. Beginning on Saturday and continuing through today, severe weather, including high winds and heavy ice and snow, has caused widespread and significant damage.
Many homes are without heat and water due to power outages and there is tree and structural damage across the region. The Evers Administration is actively communicating with local community officials, utility companies, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Emergency Management regarding power restoration efforts. Communities and electric utilities are working around the clock to restore power, clear debris, and set up sheltering and other emergency protective services for local residents.
Crews are working diligently to restore power in affected areas in addition to the more than 130,000 utility customers statewide whose power has already been restored. For the most updated information on the estimated time of restoration, Wisconsinites are encouraged to contact their utility company or co-op directly. At this time, although Wisconsin Emergency Management has not received a formal request from local communities or counties to declare an emergency, Gov.
Evers is exercising his authority to declare a statewide state of emergency across Wisconsin given the ongoing efforts to restore power and the potential for additional severe weather that could further impact Northern Wisconsin. This declaration will ensure that state agencies, local partners, utilities, and emergency management officials can continue working together and respond quickly to damage and effects caused by recent severe weather, as well as any anticipated severe weather. More heavy snow and severe weather are expected in the coming hours and days, potentially causing additional damage and requiring additional resources such as backup power generation, emergency communications, and shelter services to protect the health and safety of Wisconsinites, especially in Northern areas.
The recent ice storms over the weekend have led to the closure of two Door County parks until further notice. The Door County Facilities and Parks Department announced that Ellison Bluff County Park and Bluff Headlands Park near Gills Rock are temporarily closed to allow crews to complete their clean-up efforts. The storms have caused downed trees and branches to fall on park roads, making travel through the parks difficult.
Door County Parks Manager Tim Kazmierczak expressed the department’s appreciation for its park visitors and looks forward to welcoming them back once conditions improve. The parks’ entrances are currently marked with closed signs, which will be removed once the clean-up work is finished.
