Mylar balloon causes power outages for hundreds on Milwaukee's east side

Updated: 7:43 on March 12, 2025 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- More than 2,400 people on Milwaukee's east side were left in the dark on Tuesday, March 11. But it wasn't strong winds or storms that knocked the power out. 

It was a mylar balloon, coming into contact with a power line. 

Those balloons are usually made out of some kind of thin, metal foil, which can cause a short circuit. While issues like this can be inconvenient, according to We Energies, they can also be dangerous. 

"If a mylar balloon does come into contact with our powerlines, it can actually bring the entire line down because of that short circuit and that can obviously be a very dangerous if not deadly situation," said Alison Trouy, We Energies spokesperson. 

This issue isn't a one off. Over the last five years, mylar balloons have cut power to around 120,000 We Energies customers. That included nearly 8,000 in 2021 alone. 

Updated: 9:45 p.m. on March 11, 2025

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- We Energies says power has been restored to all customers. 

Posted: 8:21 p.m. on March 11, 2025

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- We Energies crews are working to make repairs Tuesday night after a mylar balloon came in contact with an overhead power line on the city's east side. 

The We Energies outage map showed more than 2,000 without power Tuesday evening. 

As of 8:30 p.m., hundreds of customers in the area were still without power.

We Energies says balloons should never be released outdoors and should be kept tied securely to a weight when outside. 

They say in 2024, nearly 8,000 customers lost power due to outages caused by mylar balloons.