NE Wisconsinites coping with more than 24 hours without power
BROWN COUNTY, Wis. (WFRV) – More than 24 hours later, thousands of Northeast Wisconsinites are still without power after the spring snowstorm.
The wet heavy snow coupled with high winds snapped trees and downed power lines throughout Northeast Wisconsin. One of those downed power lines was just down the road from Eddie Whipp’s Dining and Banquet Hall in Green Bay.
The restaurant lost power on Wednesday morning and has had to stay closed ever since.
“I don’t think you realize how much you appreciate it until you don’t have it,” said restaurant manager Beckie Whipp referring to having power.
Power outages at restaurants present extra challenges because of all the food that they serve. Officials at Eddie Whipp’s Dining and Banquet Hall said they rented a generator and had it running by the afternoon. Therefore, they were able to keep the food at their restaurant at the correct temperature and didn’t have to throw anything away.
WPS expects power to be restored ‘by the end of the day tomorrow’
They also said the timing of the power outage could have been a lot worse.
“Fortunately our delivery driver that brings our inventory for today wasn’t able to make it, so it kind of worked to our advantage because we don’t have all that inventory to account for as well,” said Whipp.
She said it meant the world to them to see customers reach out to see if they need anything and post supportive messages on Facebook. They have a fish fry scheduled for Friday and hope they will get their power back and be able to reopen before then.
With homes and businesses still in the dark in Northeast Wisconsin, many people are scrambling to find places to go.
Renting a hotel room has been a popular option. Officials with Comfort Inn in Green Bay said they had to post a sign outside their door saying they’re sold out because of the number of extra people looking for rooms to escape power outages at their homes.
“On the weekdays usually I have around 35 rooms (occupied), but today it’s like 60 rooms,” said Smit Patel who is the front desk attendant.
Patel said they sold out of rooms on Tuesday as well and that about 35 percent of the guests on Wednesday night were people who didn’t have power at their homes.
On Wednesday night, The Lodge at Leathem Smith in Sturgeon Bay allowed anybody who doesn’t have power at their home to stay at their resort for free.
Shawano County officials opened up a community warming center at Shawano Middle School. Several other communities had charging and warming stations throughout the day on Wednesday.
Shawano Middle School open for those without power as crews continue work
For those people who don’t have power, Brown County food safety experts offered some advice.
Food can spoil after just four hours if the refrigerator stops running. In a half-full freezer, it takes about 24 hours for food to go bad, and 48 hours in a completely full freezer. Refrigerators should always be below 40 degrees while freezers should be below zero degrees.
Meat, dairy products, and cut vegetables usually spoil first.
It’s important to have thermometers in all of your freezers and refrigerators so you can keep track of the temperature of your food at all times. If the power is out, avoid opening up the refrigerator or freezer in excess and use ice or freezer packs to cool the food.
The food safety expert that Local 5 News spoke with also said to avoid tasting food to see if it has spoiled. Usually, you’ll be able to tell by the odor, color, or texture of the food.
A map showing current outages in Northeast Wisconsin can be found here and here.
