UPDATE: As of 2:30a.m. Friday, the WPS website is showing all outages have been restored in the area.
*****
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The number of Wisconsin Public Service customers without power is less than 1,000.
As of 11 am Thursday, WPS Senior Communication Specialist Matt Cullen says roughly 900 people were still in the dark.
Since efforts began Monday night, Cullen says power has been restored to over 113,000 customers.
The outages were caused by damaging winds that swept through Northeast Wisconsin for a span of roughly 48 hours from late Monday to Wednesday night.
While losses of power were seen throughout WPS’s service area, Cullen says the northern communities of Eagle River, Minocqua, and Rhinelander, and the western municipalities of Stevens Point and Wasau saw the largest number of outages.
Cullen says crews have faced multiple obstacles in restoring power to the area including: downed power lines, downed trees, and broken power poles.
However, he says the greatest challenge came from the length of time that the strong winds stuck around.
On Tuesday, recorded gusts reached 45 miles per hour in Green Bay and peaked in the area at 55 miles an hour in Omro.
Cullen encourages people to stay at least 25 feet away from any downed line or wire and encourages them to immediately notify both WPS and local law enforcement.
According to Cullen, crews are continuing work to restore power to the remaining residents. He hopes most of them are out of the dark by late Thursday or early Friday.
