Brief Downpour Causes Power Outage in Shorewood Friday Afternoon

Updated 9 p.m.: A brief downpour caused some issues in Shorewood Friday afternoon, knocking out power for some 1,600 homes.

Power was restored to most homes a little after 4 p.m., after more than an hour of downtime. Roughly 100 homes remained without power.

Shortly thereafter, power was restored to all Shorewood homes.

The cause of the outage for the majority of homes occurred when tree branches surrounding two wires in the 4200 block of North Murray Avenue forced wires to touch each other, according to We Energies. And earlier report of a blown transformer proved false.

Original story: About 1,600 customers in Shorewood are without power after thunderstorms rolled through Friday afternoon.

According to the We Energies outage map, the outages were centered just east of Oakland Avenue and a few blocks north of Capitol Drive.

North Shore Fire Department crews are on the scene in the 4200 block of Murray Avenue and Shorewood police have joined NSFD crews in blocking off the street.

The outage occurred at about 2:45 p.m. and crews remain on the scene trying to restore power, said We Energies spokesman Brian Manthey. The exact cause isn't known, but Manthey said it's possible that lighting from the storm that passed through the area this afternoon struck a piece of equipment.

More than 7,200 We Energies customers are without power in Milwaukee County alone, and in other parts of the county the outages were caused by lightning strikes, he said.

Shorewood Patch editor Adam McCoy — who lost power in the outage — said he heard the transformer go out from about three blocks away, and others in the area reported hearing it as well.

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