Power outages could last days, WPS says

Metro Wire Staff

Wisconsin Public Service says it could be days before power is restored to more than 80,000 customers across the state.

Saturday night, WPS reported power had been restored for about 73,000 customers. The outage map on the WPS website wasn’t functioning Sunday morning.

“Our crews are continuing to work tirelessly to restore power for our customers after multiple destructive storms moved through northeastern and north-central Wisconsin during the past 24 hours,” a Facebook post from WPS reads. “Though some customers may be without power for multiple days, our crews will be working around the clock until all customers affected by the severe thunderstorms have been restored.”

Saturday afternoon, WPS reported about 3,000 customers in Plover and 3,600 in Stevens Point were without power. Power was restored to some parts of Stevens Point by early evening but then went out again after a transformer blew somewhere in the city’s north side.

“The extent of the damage has been so severe that it will require us to rebuild parts of our network,” the post said.

Calls to WPS for additional information were met with a recorded message.

Information on possible shelters or cooling centers for residents experiencing extended power outages, or for residents who require electricity for medical reasons, has been released by Portage Co. Emergency Management, and messages left for EM officials requesting updates were not immediately answered.

A heatwave earlier this week triggered the opening of cooling centers around the county, but only some of those centers provided an option for those in need to call ahead to arrange for extended hours, with only one center open 24 hours. The information follows.

Almond
Village of Almond Municipal Center at 122 Main Street, Almond
Hours: 8:00 AM -2:00 PM Mondays and Wednesdays
(Phone) 715-366-8171, call to arrange for extended hours

Plover
Town of Plover Town Hall at 5081 Hoover Avenue, Plover
Hours: 7:30 AM -5:00 PM (Mondays through Fridays)
Phone 715-630-5493, call to arrange for extended hours

Stevens Point
Portage County Public Library at 1001 Main Street, Stevens Point
Hours: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays)
9:00 AM-8:00 PM (Mondays &Thursdays)
9:30 AM – 1:00 pm Saturday

Salvation Army at 1600 Briggs Street, Stevens Point
Hours: 24 hours Sundays through Saturdays