PORT WASHINGTON, Wisconsin. – A storm Tuesday afternoon left thousands of people in southeastern Wisconsin without power and it was a rough day without air conditioning.
“The power went out and I just thought, ‘Here we go again,'” said Jacqueline Sweeting.
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What began as a quiet afternoon for Sweeting and her husband quickly turned into chaos. Lightning struck a tree in their Milwaukee yard, taking down a power line.
“It was getting dark and the wind was blowing. My husband saw a spark,” she said.
Tree damaged in Jacqueline Sweeting’s backyard
Sweeting and her neighbors are just some of the thousands of people who were without power during Tuesday’s storm. Kathryn Yarbough waited for workers to restore her power on a terrifying day.
“It was like a big bang, then all of a sudden the lights flickered and went out,” she said. “I mean, it’s gotten to the point where I can’t even go into the house anymore – it’s stuffy.”
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We energies at work
Brendan Conway, a spokesman for We Energies, said about 20,000 people were without power during the storm.
“It’s only been a few hours since it happened, but we’ve already restored power to thousands of customers,” he said. “Ozaukee, Washington and parts of Milwaukee County. Those are the areas that were really affected.”
We Energies team works to restore power after storm
Port Washington High School had to cancel events due to a power outage. Some businesses also had to temporarily close. Conway said We Energies crews will keep working until everyone’s lights and air conditioning are back on.
“We’ll get power back as quickly as we normally would,” he said. “It’s a little more difficult in the heat, we understand that – but we also know that our teams are working outside in this weather.”
Conway said it is currently unclear when power will be restored. He urges people to check We Energies’ outage map and report outages when necessary.
