Power outages: WPS expects to restore power to most customers by Friday; almost 35K still without electricity

Benita Mathew, Green Bay Press-Gazette
·2 min read
A Wisconsin Public Service worker repairs a power line on Thursday, April 4, 2024, along Chase Road near Pulaski, Wis. WPS is working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers in the wake of a winter storm system that hit northeastern Wisconsin earlier in the week.
A Wisconsin Public Service worker repairs a power line on Thursday, April 4, 2024, along Chase Road near Pulaski, Wis. WPS is working to restore power to tens of thousands of customers in the wake of a winter storm system that hit northeastern Wisconsin earlier in the week.

GREEN BAY - Residents who still don't have power in northeastern Wisconsin may need to wait until the end of the day Friday to get it back on.

Nearly 35,000 Wisconsin Public Service customers still didn't have power by Thursday afternoon, according to WPS' outage map. At the peak of damage from Tuesday's storm, more than 110,000 WPS and We Energies customers lost power.

The storm Tuesday and Wednesday dumped over 5 inches of wet, heavy snow and wind gusts of over 40 mph combined to damage utility poles, knock down power lines, and cause large trees and tree limbs to fall on electric equipment.

In a statement, WPS said 97% of customers should expect power to be restored by the end of Friday, while the rest of impacted customers to get theirs back by Saturday.

Crews by Thursday afternoon had restored powers to over 80,000 of those customers, and WPS expects that total to reach 100,000 customers by the end of Thursday, the statement said.

As of 4 p.m. Thursday, the WPS power outage map shows how many northeastern Wisconsin customers still remain without power:

  • Brown County: 7,168

  • Calumet County: 169

  • Door County: 6,177

  • Kewaunee County: 1,422

  • Marinette County: 10,509

  • Menominee (Mich.): 5,062

  • Oconto County: 3,890

Most of the storm damage was based in Brown, Door, Oconto, Marinette and Menominee (Mich.) counties. There were over 2,000 damaged utility poles, downed power lines and dropped large trees on power lines across central and northeastern Wisconsin.

People should stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines and report them to WPS or local law enforcement immediately.

More: Green Bay-area winter storm: WPS expects to restore power to most customers on Thursday

Contact Benita Mathew at bmathew@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Power outages in northeastern Wisconsin to last until Friday