Wisconsin tornado warnings for portions of Milwaukee, Waukesha and Washington counties expired after severe storms moved through southeastern Wisconsin on Tuesday, Aug. 18. The National Weather Service had issued warnings for central Milwaukee County and central and southern Waukesha County before the storms passed.
Adrienne Davis, a general assignment and breaking news reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reported that the warnings ended as the storm system moved on. At 10 p.m., 40,085 We Energies customers were without power, with 22,578 in Milwaukee County, 11,318 in Waukesha County and 2,477 in Washington County.
National Weather Service warnings
The National Weather Service said a tornado warning means a tornado is imminent or has already touched down. It issued a warning for central Milwaukee County until 7:30 p.m. and another for central and southern Waukesha County until 7:15 p.m. The storms were capable of producing tornadoes, and the agency warned that flying debris could be dangerous.
The agency also said the storms could damage roofs, windows, vehicles and trees. It advised that a basement below ground level or the lowest floor of a building offers the greatest safety during a warning.
We Energies outage counts
The outage numbers show the storm’s effect continued after the warnings expired. Milwaukee County had the largest share of customers without power, followed by Waukesha County and Washington County. The counts gave a snapshot of where the impact was heaviest later that night.
That left the immediate concern for customers not at the warning itself but at the outage that followed it. The warnings were over, but many households were still dealing with no electricity as of 10 p.m. on Aug. 18.
Washington County outages
Washington County accounted for 2,477 of the We Energies outages. Together with the other two counties, that total reached 40,085 customers without power as the storm line moved out of the region.
Whether any tornadoes touched down or how quickly power would be restored was not answered. For people in the affected counties, the immediate next step was to stay where the safety guidance placed them until the storms cleared and to deal with the outage that remained after the warnings expired.
