Power restored in West Bend

WEST BEND -- Power is finally restored to thousands of We Energies customers. Since Thursday’s storm the company said about 100,000 customers were affected by power outages -- a majority of them in West Bend. Crews tried to get everyone back up and running by Saturday.

Mary Gameridinger said, “We were really relieved when it came back on.”

West Bend residents like Gameridinger were overjoyed when power came back on. With the temperatures going down, it was a cold night inside the house. “It was down to about 57 by late Friday, so it was getting a little chilly in the house,” added Gameridinger.

She along with numerous residents in a neighborhood off Juniper Court tried to power through the conditions -- without power.

"We bundled down under the covers and slept. I tried to be patient and stay warm but really happy when it finally came back on," she said.

Many families huddled for heat.

Jeff Buchholz said he was also glad to have things back to normal. He couldn't stay warm inside and couldn't even dig himself out, outside.

"I'm out here snow-blowing today, it has an electric start,” said Buchholz.

He was without electricity for nearly two days and said he couldn’t bear it.

“We stayed over by my wife’s parent's house last night because we didn’t have any heat, supposedly there were 300 houses out because of it," he said.

Thursday’s storm packed a punch in Southeast Wisconsin...dumping snow on power lines, weighing down trees and snapping limbs.

Crews from We Energies worked around the clock attempting to have everyone restored by the end of the day, Saturday.

A goal Gameridinger said she hoped they’d meet so she could get back to enjoying the little creature comforts.

“We were just happy not to have to wear quite so many layers and be under so many blankets and have television back and internet,” she said.

We Energies is reporting there are still 100 customers without power as of 3 p.m. Saturday.