A blackout in Virginia caused by a squirrel that hit a circuit breaker

By George B Vieto

@Deepizzaguy (122256)

Lake Charles, Louisiana

September 13, 2022 3:47pm CST

Bonita Billingsley who is the spokesperson of Dominion Energy mentioned that a squirrel who tampered with electrical equipment at a substation in Virginia Beach last Wednesday morning. The blackout in the Virginia Beach area lost power for a period of one hour which affected Kempsville High School and Fairfield Elementary School plus 10,000 customers. What happened to the squirrel that caused the blackout is not known since the officials with Dominion Energy did not mention if the squirrel is alive or has passed away. At least the blackout occurred during the daytime hours instead of the evening.

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5 responses

Nocturnal Writer

@Nakitakona (59987)

• Philippines

26 Sep 22

How did they know that it's the squirrel, the culprit to cause the cutting off of power for an hou since no squirrel found near the circuit breaker?

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@Deepizzaguy (122256)

• Lake Charles, Louisiana

26 Sep 22

I think that the employees of Dominion Energy most likely saw the corpse of the squirrel in the area where the blackout happened.

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Nocturnal Writer

@Nakitakona (59987)

• Philippines

28 Sep 22

@Deepizzaguy okay. Thank you.

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@Deepizzaguy (122256)

• Lake Charles, Louisiana

28 Sep 22

@Nakitakona You are welcome.

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@LindaOHio (222623)

• United States

14 Sep 22

My guess would be that the squirrel is no longer with us.

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@Deepizzaguy (122256)

• Lake Charles, Louisiana

14 Sep 22

I am afraid that the squirrel did pass away after being electrocuted.

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@popciclecold (40214)

• United States

13 Sep 22

That is really something. At night could have been pretty bad.

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@Deepizzaguy (122256)

• Lake Charles, Louisiana

13 Sep 22

I know how it feels to deal with blackouts at night once in a while due to bad weather events.

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@RubyHawk (99367)

• Atlanta, Georgia

14 Sep 22

I would guess the squirrel was electrocuted. Poor fellow.

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@Deepizzaguy (122256)

• Lake Charles, Louisiana

14 Sep 22

Sad to say but likely true.

@db20747 (43419)

• Washington, District Of Columbia

14 Sep 22

The squirrel is trying to be an electrician. Glad they got the lights on as son as possible

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@Deepizzaguy (122256)

• Lake Charles, Louisiana

14 Sep 22

That is true since a city without electrical power is bad news for the population of the affected area.

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