By Journal Times staff | Posted: Monday, December 1, 2008 12:00 am
RACINE COUNTY - The first snowstorm of the season caused some minor problems and delays here Monday, including traffic accidents, power outages and late starts for a couple of schools.
Early Monday about 19,000 We Energies customers were without power, according to spokesman Barry McNulty. The outages, which were reported between midnight and 3 a.m., included parts of Caledonia, Racine and Mount Pleasant. A vast majority of those customers had power restored by 7 a.m.
Later Monday morning in Racine a tree that fell on power lines in the 2300 block of Green Street caused more than 60 customers in that area to lose power.
Most of the reported power outages around southeastern Wisconsin were caused by stiff winds that caused circuits to slap together, McNulty said. No major outages were reported in the entire We Energies service area between noon and press time Monday night, We Energies spokesman Brian Manthey said.
According to the National Weather Service, in addition to the snowfall, winds of 15 to 30 miles per hour were reported here.
Despite blowing snow and slippery roadways, local law enforcement reported no major traffic crashes Monday.
As of 8:30 a.m. the Racine County Sheriff's Department said they had two accidents on Interstate 94: one at 5:30 a.m. and another at 7:45 a.m. However, neither resulted in serious injury.
Later in the day, the Sheriff's Department handled several weather-related crashes, including three rollovers. No serious injuries resulted, sheriff's Sgt. Tom Bauer said.
Traffic problems seemed to subside once the sun set, Bauer said.
The Racine, Mount Pleasant, Sturtevant, Caledonia and City of Burlington police departments also reported no major crashes. The majority of traffic issues Monday morning were property damage collisions and vehicles that had gone off the roadway and become stuck in ditches.
The weather did cause at least two county schools here to begin late. Both Union Grove Elementary School and Raymond School delayed their starts for two hours Monday morning.
According to the National Weather Service, the chance of snow will remain low through Tuesday, but more snow is likely on Wednesday morning.