Power outages follow severe storms in Oconto County

By: 
NEW Media Staff

Work crews from Chippewa and Taylor counties converged on Oconto County on June 16 to help local crews restore power to thousands of electric customers after severe thunderstorms rumbled through the area the night before.

Oconto Electric Cooperative (OEC) reported 75 outages affecting 2,882 customers in its service area, including large swaths in Oconto Falls, Suring and the towns of Little Suamico, Oconto and Abrams, after the storms raced across the county and a cold front dropped temperatures from the low 90s to low 70s in less than an hour. About half had been restored by midday June 16, with a goal of completing the work by nightfall.

Thousands more were without power as Wisconsin Public Service reported outages in Little Suamico, Chase, Mountain, Townsend and Breed. About 60,000 WPS customers were affected, and the utility said it received more than 800 reports of downed trees, downed power lines and trees falling into its equipment across the state.

State Highway 22 was closed between Cream City and Logtown roads east of Stiles after a series of power poles were downed in the storm. OEC replaced the poles and the road was reopened around 2 p.m.

Several other roads were closed to clear down trees and power lines, and a number of buildings were damaged by falling trees and high winds, but the county was spared the impact on more populated counties to the south, where Brown and Outagamie county officials declared states of emergency.