MILWAUKEE- Twenty-four hours after straight line winds contributed to knocking power out for more than 130-thousand WE Energies customers, crews are still working to get power restored to more than half of them.
Providing an update shortly after 5 o’clock tonight, WE Energies President Tom Metcalfe said they had 500 employees working to repair damaged power lines and busted transformers. He says they’ve requested out-of-state assistance to help the repair process move quicker, but help’s been hard to come by.
“Some of our surrounding states have been hit just like we were so it’s been a little challenging but we do have some resources coming from out of state,” Metcalfe said. “Right now we have the commitment of fifty full time equivalent line mechanics and that’s on top of the five-hundred we have working on the front lines right now.”
Metcalfe says efforts to restore power have been slower than anticipated because of the immense damage last night’s winds caused.
“We’ve been challenged by access to some of our equipment with blocked roads and other significant hazards. In some cases we’ve had to rebuild our network.”
The hardest hit areas include areas north and west of Milwaukee including West Allis, Menomonee Falls, Delafield, Brookfield and Waukesha.
“For some of our customers this will be a multi day event,” Metcalfe added.
As of 9 o’clock Wednesday night the WE Energies outage map showed more than 90-thousand customers remain without power. You can view the map here.