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Thousands without power in Milwaukee area following severe storms

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Posted at 6:32 AM, Aug 11, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-11 08:32:29-04

A series of severe storms blew through the Milwaukee area on Tuesday night, leaving behind damage and thousands of power outages.

The storms rolled through southeast Wisconsin in the early evening hours on Tuesday. All storm warnings and watches were canceled just after 8:15 p.m. local time.

The weather system brought with it strong winds and torrential rain.

See videos of the storms and resulting damage in the social media posts below.

Luckily, no injuries were reported in connection with the storms.

As of 5:30 a.m. local time Wednesday morning, more than 100,000 We Energies customers in the area were still without power.

A We Energies spokesperson said their crews had encountered widespread damage, including broken utility poles, downed power lines and trees falling into their equipment.

"Our crews first focus is on clearing downed lines, trees, branches and other dangerous hazards," the company said in a statement.

In a statement Wednesday morning, We Energies said it restored power to 70,000 customers overnight.

"We will continue working around the clock and have called in additional resources to restore power as quickly and safely as possible," the company said.

We Energies urges people to stay at least 25 feet away from any downed power lines. Anyone who encounters a downed power should report the situation to We Energies or a local law enforcement agency right away.

This story was originally published by Scripps station TMJ4 in Milwaukee.