Green Bay-area winter storm updates: 76,000 WPS customers without power, highways closed

GREEN BAY - More than 76,000 Wisconsin Public Service customers were without power Wednesday morning after a powerful winter storm blew through northeastern Wisconsin.

The storm's wet snow and strong wind gusts caused widespread damage and outages across a wide swath of WPS's service area in northeastern and central Wisconsin.

Matt Cullen, WPS spokesperson, said crews have restored power to 32,000 customers since 4 p.m. Tuesday, but customers continue to report new outages this morning, complicating efforts to restore service as fast as possible.

The number of customers without power increased from 63,000 at 9 a.m. to more than 76,730 at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

Cullen said the storm did the most damage in Brown, Door, Oconto, Marinette and Menominee (Mich.) counties and that WPS has requested help from outside utility crews to help it restore service as fast as possible.

The WPS power outage map shows the following changes in reported outages:

• Door County: 15,963, up from 13,633 customers

• Marinette County: 18,251, down from 18,672 customers

• Brown County: 18,672, up from 12,399 customers

Additionally, Kewaunee County currently has 3,671 customers without power, Oconto County 7,125 and Menominee County, Mich., almost 6,000 customers without power.

"At this time, we haven’t determined a timeframe for repairs because the storm is still kind of moving its way out of northeast and north-central Wisconsin," Cullen said. "Once it clears out, that will help us better assess the damage and allow us to provide a more specific timeline for when repairs would be completed."

The storm's heavy snow and strong winds broke utility poles, downed power lines and dropped tree limbs or whole trees on power equipment. Cullen urged people who encounter downed power lines or utility poles to stay 25 feet away from it and to contact WPS and/or local law enforcement in order to make the scene safe.

One more inch of snow on the way

About another inch of snow was expected Wednesday in the Green Bay area until the early afternoon, said Roy Eckberg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Green Bay. A winter storm warning was expected to expire at 1 p.m.

That adds to the 5 inches of snowfall in Green Bay since Tuesday morning. Wednesday’s snow will accumulate on grassy surfaces instead of roads, Eckberg said.

Wind gusts will stay in the 30 to 35 mph range before they weaken in the afternoon. Most of the storm damage and power outages happened Tuesday, and impacts from the snowstorm shouldn't be as hard Wednesday.

“The worst of the storm is over at this point,” he said.

Another inch of rain and snow could fall Wednesday night through Thursday morning, but it will be on the lighter side. After Thursday, temperatures will increase Friday. Highs will be in the high 40s and low 50s Saturday and Sunday.

“There’ll be a warm up on the weekend and most of the snow should be gone by then,” Eckberg said.

Businesses, health clinics delay openings

Due to the storm, local businesses announced they will be opening later in the day Tuesday.

• All Brown County Library locations will open at 11 a.m.

• HSHS St. Clare Memorial and Prevea health centers in Gillett, Oconto Falls, Mountain, Lena and Seymour will open at noon. Patients will get calls to reschedule appointments.

• The Green Bay Botanical Garden will open at noon.

• Community First Credit Union will open at noon.

More storm impacts: These Green Bay-area schools will be closed Wednesday, or on a 2-hour delay because of winter storm

A dozen reported traffic crashes with no injuries

Since the heavy snow started at about 4 p.m. Tuesday up until Wednesday morning, the Green Bay Police Department had reported 13 traffic crashes with no injuries.

Jennifer Gonzalez, communications coordinator for the police department, said only two were reported overnight into this morning.

"It is good news and we tend to see this too if people have enough notice that the storm is coming," she said.

However, Gonzalez urged drivers to drive slow and leave enough stopping distance when approaching stop signs.

Door County state highway, eastern Brown County highways closed due to storm's impact

Storm damage and continued snow have closed sections of U.S. 41 near Peshtigo, State 57 in Door County and county highways east of Green Bay.

State 57 between County H, in Brussels, to State 42/County MM was closed Wednesday morning due to downed power lines hanging over the four-lane highway, according to the Door County Sheriff's Office. The recommended detour follows County H to State 42 to 57 from the south and the reverse from the north.

A stretch of U.S. 41 near the County Y exit in Peshtigo was closed at 1 a.m. Wednesday because of a downed transmission line, according to the Town of Peshtigo Fire Department.

Andy Sell, highway superintendent for Brown County, said that as of Wednesday morning the intersection at South County P and State 54, between New Franken and Luxemburg, was closed. Also in the same area, the intersections at County P and Delcore Road and at County K and Gravel Pit Road were closed.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation Northeast Region canceled of all scheduled traffic impacts for Wednesday on the I-41 expansion project in Outagamie County and the I-41 rehabilitation project in Winnebago and Outagamie counties.

The interactive map from the WisDOT shows slippery stretches on State 54 between State 57 and County Line Road.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay area winter storm leaves 76,000 WPS customers without power