A power outage on Manitowoc’s north side and a ‘sinkhole’ issue in the downtown area resulted from severe thunderstorms and rain-saturated ground. Police Lieutenant Robert Arps tells Seehafer News that officers were called out at midnight to the west parking lot of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum where a large sinkhole had developed. A motorist who had parked there observed his front tire had dropped into the hole described as about 8-by-8 feet and perhaps 10-feet deep. A wrecker was called and the man’s vehicle was towed from the scene without any major damage. About an hour later, at 1:00 am, police were alerted to a power outage in the 1400 block of North 23rd Street, between Fairmont and Menasha Avenue. We were told that a tree tipped over and landed on a power line, causing a transformer to catch fire. A Manitowoc Public Utilities crew and Department of Public Works personnel were also on the scene early this morning. No word on how many customers were affected, and when power was restored.
*UPDATE 8/29/2018 8:58 AM*
It is being reported by Dan Salm, a management spokesman for Manitowoc Public Utilities, that 180 customers were affected, with power remaining off until 2:30 PM. MPU crews have also been dispatched to several other areas, including Kiel, to help with their power restoration efforts.
Bellow is a photo showing how deep the pothole in the parking lot of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum is, while the location can be seen in the photo above.
