Power still being restored in Door Co.

BAILEYS HARBOR - Crews continue to work to restore power after heavy snow from Blizzard Allison.

Utility officials say heavy snow snapped off tree branches that fell on power lines.

Snow-clogged roads and strong winds also made repair work slow and difficult.

At one point more than 4,000 people in Sturgeon Bay were without power. And because of the lack of power and cold Wednesday night, Jacksonport and Sister Bay opened emergency shelters.

35 WPS crews continued to tackle the Door County peninsula Thursday in an effort to bring power back.

“Trees and ice you know, snow gets on the trees, bends em back, breaks em off, they fall on the power lines, cause it,” said lineman Dave Farber.

This crew worked on downed lines by Cana Island just north of Baileys Harbor.

“Here it's just from the wind, the water bouncing up getting on the conductors you can see how thick they are with ice. Just the weight causes them to break,” said Farber.

Farber said crews are working long hours to restore power to customers.

“My guys are working all hours trying to get everybody back on again. We've been out 24 hours now, and then the cold, so we're doing our best to get them back on,” Farber said.

Crews from Green Bay, Stevens Point and Wausau worked throughout the county.

The number of people left in the dark dwindled throughout the day.

At 6:00 am - 12 hundred had no power

By 10:15 that number had dropped to 760.

By 2:00 pm - 210 customers remained without power mostly in Northern Door County along Lake Michigan.

“It was a very big inconvenience because what can you do? You can't do anything!” said Barb Watson.

Watson’s power came back on early Thursday morning, but it was a long wait.

“The lights came back on this morning at 10 minutes after one, so we were off 22 hours,” said Watson.

Watson said she and her husband lit the fireplace to keep warm, and used bottled water because running water wasn't available.

“Meanwhile we were afraid our pipes would freeze because we've had that once before, so my husband drained all the pipes,” said Watson.

The repairs meant long hours for utility crews.

“We'll work another 16, 18 today,” said Farber.

And a long wait for some customers.

“We were very happy to have electric on, when it came on it was oh it's on!” said Watson.

WPS expected everyone to have power back on by the end of the day.