Power was back on throughout Kenosha County by late Friday, with only sporadic outages being repaired by We Energies crews follow Wednesday’s nights winter ice storm across the region.
Electrical outages from winter storm restored; Kenosha County Executive thanks all who responded to help
Areas that experienced power outages in Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties were expected to be about 100 percent restored by noon on Friday, according to We Energies officials.
“We Energies crews have made significant progress after Wednesday’s ice storm. Nearly 95% of customers who lost power had their lights back on (Thursday night) and we now estimate all customers will have their power restored or outage assigned by noon Friday — five hours sooner than originally estimated,” said Bendan Conway, spokesman for the utility that serves Wisconsin and Michigan with electricity.
In Kenosha County alone more than 10,000 customers were without power at various times Wednesday night into Thursday as the ice storm brought high winds and encrusted trees and powerlines, causing dangerous conditions throughout the region. However, repairs progressed throughout Thursday and, by early Friday, less than 1,000 customers remained without power, according to We Energies.
Conway said the crews and specialized workers restored service under icy conditions and worked overnight into Friday to restore electricity to remaining homes and businesses.
“We appreciate our customers’ patience and thank the many people who have shared kind words and gestures to our hard working employees,” he said.
The loss of power follow the storm led Kenosha County and the Town of Paris to open overnight shelters, where residents could also charge electronics if they didn’t have power at home.
Kenosha County Executive Samantha Kerkman expressed her appreciation to those who helped out during the storm response.
“Thank you to everyone on our team at Kenosha County, to the municipal governments and fire departments, to the utility crews and to the other first-responders who have been involved with the recovery from this week’s ice storm and the many power outages that followed,” Kerkman said Friday. ““A special thanks goes to the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department, the American Red Cross and the Journey Disaster Response Team for their collaboration on an overnight reception center that was hosted last night at the Kenosha County Center for residents whose homes were still without power.
“As of (Friday) morning, there were still some Kenosha County residents who are waiting to have their power restored. As crews continue to work on these repairs, I ask that people please use caution when driving near these worksites, and not to drive around barricades — there could be danger on the other side of them,” she said. “Again, my thanks go to the crews who have put many hours into this storm response, and to the residents who have shown great patience during this difficult time for many.”