Officials with We Energies have told the City of Burlington that it may take until midday Friday to restore power residents who have been with electricity since early Wednesday evening due to flooding.
About 4,400 Burlington and Waterford residents have been without electricity and landline phone service, according to an update issued by city officials late Thursday morning. We Energies representatives told emergency management officials they expected to have power restored to the Waterford area by noon Thursday.
Officials cautioned, however, that Burlington residents should be prepared to endure outages that will last longer than the Friday afternoon estimate.
Water levels on the Fox and White rivers have begun to recede in the city after cresting at 16.5 feet. The level of the river is expected to dip below major flood stage of 14 feet by mid-morning on Saturday, according to the news release.
“(More than) 60 members of the National Guard have been deployed in the City of Burlington and are assisting in emergency efforts, including monitoring traffic at the several streets and all the bridges that remain closed,” the release states. “The Guard and Racine County Human Services staff will be conducting health and well visits to the elderly, homebound, and vulnerable adults in the Burlington area.”
Officials also continued to caution against attempting to drive through the city, advising those who need to get around Burlington to use the bypass highway. All four bridges in the city’s downtown remained closed as of noon Thursday.
Mayor Jeannie Hefty said the city has received several offers of assistance in the form of donated food, assistance and services, and are working on a process to handle the requests.
“We will be letting the public know what they can do to help us as soon as we can,” Hefty said. “We appreciate your patience during this emergency situation and future clean-up efforts.”
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