We've had quite a few in Milwaukee and also quite a few in Waukesha County," Trouy said. "It's really been all over our service area. Extra repair crews were called in throughout the day and by 8 p.m., power had been restored for more than 20,000 customers. there were 50 outages affecting 301 customers in southeastern Wisconsin. That caused numerous power outages from tree branches and limbs falling onto equipment, said We Energies spokeswoman Alison Trouy.Īs of 8 p.m. Sustained winds out of the west and northwest were measured at around 30 mph with gusts up to 60 mph throughout the day. 10 near Auburndale, with a warning that "many more along the way are getting stuck." The Wood County Sheriff's Department posted a short video Sunday morning to its Facebook page showing officers assisting a semi truck that had gotten stuck on U.S. "Folks, this is the reason we beg and plead for everyone to move over and slow down when you see emergency lights," the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook. And I-41 southbound closed at Highway 10 with traffic rerouted to Highway 76. I-41 was shut down from Breezewood Lane in Neenah to Highway 76 in Oshkosh in both directions. Noting that the weather and pileup taxed the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department and other agencies, Matz said dispatchers answered 772 emergency calls to 911 between 11:05 a.m. It took several hours to move the injured to hospitals, evacuate other motorists caught up in the accident scene by buses to a warming shelter and then escort an estimated 500 vehicles stopped on the highway behind the pileup to alternative routes, said Matz. everyone had been accounted for, Matz said. The Sheriff's Office set up a call center to help families locate their loved ones and by 8:30 p.m. "On scene, that was the worst conditions I've ever seen." "I've been in the law enforcement business - this is my 27th year," Winnebago County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Todd Christopherson said. deputies responded to 10 accidents, 24 slide-offs and a dozen vehicles stuck on roads as several county and township roads were impassable because of blowing and drifting snow. In Columbia County near Arlington, multiple crashes closed the southbound left and right lanes of I-39/90 south of Highway 60 from about noon to just before 1:30 p.m.
Northbound I-43 closed in Ozaukee County near Port Washington around 3:30 p.m. Southbound I-43 in Brown County shut down for a few hours Sunday afternoon due to whiteout conditions, ice-covered roads and multiple crashes, according to the Sheriff's Department. Driving conditions were difficult in other parts of the state. Just felt like typing this shit out before trying to get some sleep.Gale-force winds and blizzard conditions shut down large stretches of heavily traveled highways across the state Sunday, including I-41 in Neenah, where one motorist was killed and 71 others injured in a chain-reaction pileup involving 131 vehicles.Īuthorities were telling people to stay off the roads in a wide swath across the top third of the state because travel was practically impossible. Kiss goodbye to that safety bonus for the quarter. I've been with this company for just over 2 months, and I don't know if I'll be deemed to be at fault (fired), or even if I'm not I don't know if they have any spare trucks. I'm now at a hotel for the night, and my company is going to be hooking me up with a ride back to Wichita tomorrow. After a few good samaritans came along and busted out my front window for me to escape, I was checked by a few EMTs in the ambulance. In retrospect, I'm amazed how calm I was throughout the entire ordeal.
I was in the drivers seat, firmly secured by my seatbelt, dangling for a few minutes. The wind was normal, but strong and consistent, until the gust of wind hit my trailer and within two seconds both the trailer and truck were on its side. It was very sudden, unlike anything I've ever experienced in my six years of driving. But a cop mentioned to me it wouldn't have been surprising if I still would have been blown over if I had been going 45MPH, due to my trailer being empty. It was dark outside, and with only my headlights on its difficult to see exactly how hard the wind is blowing (seeing leaves being blown across the interstate), and gauge if slowing down (from 68MPH to 55MPH) would have been enough to avoid a dangerous situation. I was going around 55MPH, thought that slowed speed made all winds from the north safer to drive in, but I was wrong. Three hours ago I was driving on I-70, a few miles east of Oakley KS, heading east, when a sudden gust of wind blew me over on the interstate.