Thousands of people are still without electricity after losing it Wednesday night when snow, sleet, ice, and wind took down power lines.
Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties were hit especially hard by the winter weather.
TMJ4 News spoke with one family in Caledonia who’s been without power for nearly 18 hours.
“We used up all the wood last night as you can see,” said Duncan Daniels. “I went and got more today.”
The fireplace has been key for the Daniels family, helping provide a little warmth inside their home.
“Luckily, I was prepared,” Daniels said. “I have some battery-powered lights and backup power charges for our phones. We kept a light on in the baby’s room all night so she wouldn’t get scared.”
Duncan and his wife, Gaby, have been most concerned about their two-year-old daughter, Nivea. She’s wearing three layers of clothes.
“We’re just trying to keep her busy,” Daniels said.
Since their home uses a well system, they have no running water.
“We rely on electricity to pump the water from the well,” Daniels said. “We are trying to keep the fridge and freezer closed so our food doesn’t spoil. Luckily, we have a gas stove, so we can start it with a lighter if we need it.”
TMJ4 News asked We Energies about the hours-long wait to restore power in some locations.
“We really appreciate everyone’s patience,” said We Energies spokesman Brendan Conway. “Please know we have had crews working since the ice came through. Crews from out of state are here helping us. The damage is incredible from the buildup of ice. So many branches came down on power lines because of the weight of the ice and the heavy wind. Our crews are restoring power, but it’s going right back out, because another branch falls on the same line.”
Conway says, in some cases, workers have had to completely re-string the power lines. Many of the downed wires are in heavily wooded areas.
“When you get down to the last percent of outages, sometimes those are the hardest ones to fix,” he said.
“I really hope they can get things fixed sooner rather than later,” Daniels said. “I also really hope that they can start addressing some of the outdated power lines and infrastructure and try to update them.”
We Energies says 90 percent of customers will have power restored by noon Friday. All customers will have power restored, or at least a crew assigned to their outage, by 5 p.m. Friday.
The good news is that the Daniels family had power restored shortly after sharing their story.