UPDATE: We Energies crews working to restore power to areas affected by outages during winter storm (2024)

KENOSHA NEWS STAFF

A winter storm system that dropped wet, heavy snow across southeast Wisconsin led to closures, dangerous road conditions and a number of power outages across the region.

We Energies reports more than 100,000 customers were without power across a multi-county area Thursday night into Friday, in a swath of the state including parts of Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee counties. Some locations were first without power since around 9 p.m. Thursday and were being repaired as of midday Friday.

Total outages had been reduced to 24.381 customers by 6:31 p.m. Friday, according to We Energies.

As of 3 p.m. Friday approximately 4,000 We Energies customers remained without power in Kenosha County with about 1,700 in the City of Kenosha, 330 in the Village of Pleasant Prairie, 300 in the Town of Bristol and 1,000 in the Town of Somers.

In Kenosha County, dozens of outages were reported, some involving a handful of customers, others larger parts of the community. Among outage locations were 14th Place at 30th Avenue, Washington Road near Bradford High School, 16th Avenue at 50th Street, 28th Avenue around 44th Street, 53rd Street at 24th Avenue, 65th Street at 38th Avenue, 72nd Street at 45th Avenue, several locations just north of 60th Street between 55th Avenue and 71st Avenue, two areas along Cooper Road south of 80th Street, and more in Pleasant Prairie.

Several outages were also reported along Wilmot Road east of 120th Avenue and south of 75th Street. A large outage affecting 1,461 customers was affected on Bristol Road just north of Highway 50.

Outages in the county affected customers to the west including in Silver Lake and Salem.

We Energies posted on social media Friday that hundreds of crews from across the state are working on restoration efforts.

The outages and weather conditions contributed to the closing of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside campus on Friday until afternoon classes. All morning courses, including online classes, were called off. Friday evening activities were set to continue as scheduled.

Gateway Technical College, with campuses in Kenosha, Racine and Elkhorn, delayed its opening on Friday until 10 a.m. All in-person classes and services were set to resume at that time.

All Kenosha Unified School District classes were closed on Friday due to the weather warning in effect until 10 a.m. and power outages affected the area.

Weather delays trial

The ongoing first-degree homicide trial of Zachary Anderson, of Mequon, in Kenosha County Circuit Court was delayed Friday. Kenosha County Clerk of Court Rebecca Matoska-Mentink announced that, due to weather conditions, the trial would reconvene on Monday at 9 a.m.

Between 8 p.m. Thursday to 10 a.m. Friday Kenosha County Sheriff Deputies responded to numerous weather and traffic-related calls. Deputies responded to one crash with injuries, 13 property-damage crashes and 52 calls for motorist assistance.

By 1 p.m. Friday there are no road closures in Kenosha County due to the storm.

Portions of Kenosha County received 6 to 8 inches of snow.

“Our deputies were able to keep up with the calls for service and did an excellent job serving the people of Kenosha County. The roadways were dangerous, and we are thankful that none of the accidents involved life-threatening injuries,” Sgt. David Wright said in a statement.

The City of Kenosha canceled its snow emergency at 3 p.m. Friday.