MILWAUKEE – A Winter Weather Advisory was in effect for most of southeastern Wisconsin on Tuesday as ice continued to build on tree branches, eventually knocking out power to nearly 2,000 WE Energies customers.
“We haven’t had an ice event like this for a while, so what we’re seeing today is this tree contact, with ice building up on these tree branches and causing tree branches to come into contact with our equipment,” WE Energies spokesperson Amy Jahns said.
Jahns said that not all incidents were tree-related, but she did say that most were weather-related.
“We’ve had a couple of power lines come down today and it’s been for various reasons,” Jahns said.
“Whether it’s tree branches getting weighed down by ice or the wind coming into contact with our equipment… We’ve also had a couple vehicle versus pole accidents which have brought down some wires. So it’s been various reasons for wires coming down today.”
You can check the latest WE Energies outages by clicking here.
HAPPENING NOW: Power line down near 5600 block of S. 27th. Many businesses in area without power @we_energies crews are on scene now. @tmj4 pic.twitter.com/PSwsXtV0ri
— Tom Durian (@TMJ4Tom) February 22, 2022
Drivers… lights out means treat it as a 4 way stop! This is S. 27th and we’ve seen a lot of people just continue through without stopping. @tmj4 pic.twitter.com/PaS5LQZVkn
— Tom Durian (@TMJ4Tom) February 22, 2022