Manitowoc Public Utilities says about 3,000 customers lost power after Thursday’s storm

Brandon Reid, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
Updated ·2 min read
A downed tree at Washington Park after a storm swept through the city at around 4:10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.
A downed tree at Washington Park after a storm swept through the city at around 4:10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.

MANITOWOC – Manitowoc Public Utilities said its crews worked through the night Thursday into Friday clearing trees from power lines and customer service drops, replacing poles and transformers, and rebuilding the electric distribution system throughout multiple locations in the city.

The work came after about 3,000 MPU customers lost power following a storm that whipped through the city with high winds at around 4:10 p.m. Thursday. MPU had said five circuits were impacted, causing the loss of power to customers. As of 9 p.m. Thursday, MPU said all of those circuits had been restored and crews were focused on isolated smaller outages. Some of that work was expected to be completed Friday.

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As of Friday morning, MPU said initial estimates were that about 200 unique locations of damaged utility infrastructure caused outages.

The airplane statue at the entrance to Manitowoc County Airport on Freedom Way off Menasha Avenue was blown off its base after a storm swept through the city at around 4:10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.
The airplane statue at the entrance to Manitowoc County Airport on Freedom Way off Menasha Avenue was blown off its base after a storm swept through the city at around 4:10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.

Crews were to continue restoration efforts Friday along with support from Kiel, Plymouth and Menasha utilities through the Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin Mutual Aid Program. Also supporting the efforts were crews from Asplundh.

MPU said crews are prioritizing each outage and estimate all customers should be back in power within 24 hours.

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The utility is asking residents to use extreme caution when venturing out and to be watchful of downed power lines or branches hanging on wires. Never try to remove branches from power lines and stay away from any downed wires, MPU said.

Residents can report problems to MPU by calling 920-683-4622.

Contact Brandon Reid at 920-686-2984 or breid@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @breidHTRNews.

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This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Manitowoc Public Utilities reports several power outages