Severe storms, including tornadoes, high winds, lightning and heavy rain, hit southeastern Wisconsin this week, causing major damage in Kenosha and Racine counties. More than 60 power poles and miles of power lines were brought down in the storm. Crews from around the state are working around the clock to restore service safely and as quickly as possible.
In Kenosha and Racine counties, the scale of the damage is massive, marking one of the largest localized outage issues in years. Crews must remove damaged equipment, install new poles and wires, and in many cases dig new holes to replace infrastructure. When the physical repairs are complete, lines will be tested and reenergized. Because of the extensive work, some customers are expected to remain without power until the weekend.
Restoration is taking longer than a typical outage because of the scale and type of damage crews are finding. Typically, power outages are resolved quickly, like the restoration of 40,000 customers earlier this week. But the June 11 storm caused widespread infrastructure damage, which requires more time to repair.
Crews are working 16-hour shifts, with additional workers brought in from across the state to help. Since Thursday afternoon, power has been restored to more than 42,000 customers.
Everyone is urged to stay safe by keeping at least 25 feet away from downed power lines and reporting them to We Energies or local authorities.
For the latest updates on restoration efforts, customers can go to the We Energies outage map or use the We Energies app. Estimated restoration times can change based on the extent of damage and the equipment needed to restore power.
Thank you to our customers for your patience as we work as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to you.