Wisconsin Faces Power Outages Amid Strong Winds and Extreme Heat

Milwaukee, Wisconsin — Thousands of people lost power across Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon due to strong wind gusts, according to We Energies. The outages occurred as much of the state faced extreme heat, leaving residents without air conditioning to cope.

On Milwaukee’s south side, a downed branch on a neighbor’s power line caused blackouts for hundreds of homes for several hours. Stella Benishek, a local resident, described the moment she heard the loud noise. “I heard a loud sound and thought it was a dump truck,” she said. “But I heard it multiple times, then my stepmom came and said, ‘There are fireballs.’”

We Energies reported that high winds led to tree limbs falling onto power lines, triggering the outages. Mateo Gomez, another resident, shared the discomfort of the situation, saying, “You can really tell the difference inside the house today versus outside.”

In response to the heat and lack of power, Gomez, Benishek, and their neighbors set up a slip-and-slide and turned on a sprinkler to cool down. A spokesperson for We Energies stated, “We are seeing scattered outages across the area from high wind gusts knocking down limbs and trees into our equipment. We have crews responding to all calls, and they are working as quickly and safely as possible to get power restored.”

The power outages also disrupted local businesses. Several shops in a St. Francis strip mall closed and displayed signs announcing their closures. Other business owners used social media to inform customers of their shutdowns.

As of 10 p.m. on Saturday, 17,040 people were reported without power in Wisconsin, with 13,156 of those customers from Milwaukee County. City and county officials urged residents to stay safe by using cooling centers, which include libraries, malls, pools, and senior centers.