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Severe weather temporarily stops the music at Summerfest

Posted at 11:27 PM, Jun 27, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-28 00:27:37-04

MILWAUKEE — Severe weather rolls through and brings the Big Gig to a halt for part of the evening.

“There is are severe thunderstorms headed our way with wind gusts up to 60 mph. There is a severe lightning risk with this storm as well,” an announcer said over the loud speakers.

People took cover wherever they could.

“They let us go in under the roof so that was really nice. We were able to avoid getting wet,” said Chad Gustafson who brought his step-daughters from Minnesota.

Some refused to leave the stages fearing they would lose their seats for one of the big headliners. But Summerfest kept repeating warning, the storm could be dangerous. So parents did not mess around.

“We knew something bad was coming in so we headed back to the band stand,” said Heather Gustafson with her daughters.

The line of weather did cause problems. Nearly 50,000 WE energy customers lost power. Carroll University was forced to cancel evening classes because of all the downed lines.