MARINETTE — Wisconsin Public Service said the vast majority of customers impacted by this week’s storms would have power restored by Friday night, according to a spokesperson.
“Our crews are finding significant damage from the storm — including more than 1,500 reports of damaged utility poles, downed power lines, and large trees and tree limbs falling onto our electric equipment,” said Matt Cullen, a spokesperson for WEC Energy Group.
The power went out for residents around dinnertime on Tuesday night, leaving more than 20,000 without power in the two counties of Marinette and Menominee. WPS was gathering help throughout the state to restore power to the affected communities following the damage.
“We have an army of field crews, including technicians from across Wisconsin and hundreds of extra workers from across the Midwest working nonstop on our restoration efforts,” Cullen said.
According to the Wisconsin Public Service Outage Map online, 11,428 customers in Marinette County and 5,413 in Menominee County are still without power as of 11:25 p.m. on Thursday.
Cullen advised that customers use the Outage Map for the latest information on the estimated restoration time.
“We have restored power to more than 60,000 Wisconsin Public Service customers who lost power after heavy, wet snow and strong winds tore across Wisconsin Tuesday and Wednesday,” Cullen said.
Brendan Conway, director of media relations from WEC Energy Group said to have patience with workers.
“Crews also are facing slick and snowy road conditions as they travel to restore power. We appreciate our customers understanding as our crews work safely in these difficult conditions,” Conway said.
It’s not very often that someone would opt to go to work after being told by their boss that they could stay home, but Connie Klitzke didn’t have a choice.
“We have no water, no heat, no electricity,” Klitzke said. “That’s why I’m here.”
She lives about four miles south on Shore Drive and said nobody has power around her.
“This happens every year — it’s one of the most horrible power outage areas,” Klitzke said. “We lose power probably 98% of storms. Please bury the lines on Shore Drive.”
As she drove to work on Wednesday, she saw drooping and snapped power poles.
Her kids went to Planet Fitness to take showers and use Wi-Fi. Their house was around 60 degrees.
“The only thing we’re really concerned about right now is replacing all our groceries,” Klitzke said.
The entire family was running their cars to charge their phones and shining the lights into the bay windows of their home for light.
It became a prolonged inconvenience for the family from something that started just like any other outage.
“I was hoping we’d wake up, and the power would be back on,” Klitzke said.
Amarissa Crabb lives on 30th Street in Menominee and said she’s concerned about her pets.
“We have four cats, two dogs, a rat and a fish tank with fish,” Crabb said. “I hope they’re going to be OK.”
When she left her house on Wednesday, it was 52 degrees. She joined other family at her sister’s house, which has power.
She left pocket warmers in her dog’s kennels and a pile of activated warmers on the couch, where the cats often lie.
She said the power has never gone out for this long — maybe three years ago, they had an outage, but the house just got too cold for her daughter and her boyfriend to stay there.
“We couldn’t handle it anymore,” Crabb said. “We were up all night.”
Pam Schroeder, manager of Applejack’s Restaurant & Pub and Edgewater, was busy monitoring the food at Applejack’s on Wednesday afternoon. They ran the equipment on a backup generator and would reassess the food when the power returned.
“We’ll go from there,” Schroeder said.
She said they would throw anything out that wasn’t up to code
“We’ve never had it out this long,” Schroeder said.
Across the street, the Waterfront Store was out of power on Tuesday when the pumps stopped working at around 5:30 p.m. They turned back on by 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Highway 180 was closed on Wednesday afternoon, heading north from the City Limits Liquor & Homebrew, or “The Big Chicken” gas station.
Teresa Boscarino, executive director of Abundant Life Mission in Menominee, said they couldn’t allow people to stay in the lobby of the homeless shelter, and their beds were almost full on Wednesday. However, they are providing vital needs for the people able to take advantage of their housing.
“It is so critical for our facility to be open for homeless people, especially when the weather changes,” Boscarino said. “It’s dangerous for them to be in the elements right now.”
Kwik Trip in Marinette also lost power Tuesday night. Gerald Lewis, from Grover, was waiting in line to check out at the gas station on Wednesday.
He said he and his son and dog had been without power for almost 24 hours.
“I kinda figured it was going to happen,” Lewis said.
He was stocking up on essentials like bottled water, milk, chicken and some other hot food.
He said he didn’t think the outage would last that long.
“Usually, they’re pretty good with it,” Lewis said.
Jackie Michalski, owner of Grooming by Jackie, was accepting any and all pets on Thursday, but hadn’t had anyone take advantage yet.
“I know if we get cold, the dogs are going to get cold too,” Michalski said. “The reptiles really need that heat.”
She said she runs cold and normally keeps the business warmer than most people keep their houses. They had plenty of open outlets for people to plug in any necessary things for their pets.
She is closed on Friday to go to the animal hospital but said she’d be open for a few hours on Saturday and next week.
“Worst case scenario, we’re here,” Michalski said.
Marinette County released some tips for staying safe:
Assume all power lines are energized, even those on the ground. Do not cut trees with downed wires in them. Power lines can be difficult to see in downed trees.If the power in your house goes out, do not try to heat the house with charcoal or propane grills, kerosene space heaters or natural gas ranges/ovens.An electrical power outage or interruption may cause operational problems with your furnace. If your furnace is not operating be careful of hazards which can occur from alternative heating sources. Do not use alternative heating sources such as fuel burning space heaters, grills and other appliances that can give off dangerous gases. Do not use a portable power generator indoors or in any enclosed space.If there is no electricity, use large flashlights or battery-operated camp lanterns. If you are using candles or oil lamps to light your home, keep children and pets away from the flames.If you use electrical heaters powered by portable generators be careful where you place the heater and never leave the heater unattended.If you use your fireplace for heating, be sure that flues are open as required. Do not overload your fireplace.Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature. When in doubt, throw it out.
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