Squirrel behind power outage?
TORONTO, ONTARIO - A squirrel that crawled into a hydro substation in the downtown core may have caused a power outage at about 11 a.m. September 19.
Toronto Hydro doesn't know if it was the squirrel or a piece of defective equipment that caused a short in the system.
A dead squirrel, apparently electrocuted, was found in the substation at Wellington and John Sts. this morning.
The area west of Yonge St. to Spadina Ave. and from Queen St. south to the lake was affected.
Some businesses and residents lost power and some traffic problems were reported. The power was disrupted for just under two hours.
"Aside from storms, animal contacts do cause a lot of outages," Toronto Hydro spokesperson Tanya Bruckmueller said. "Less in the downtown area," she added. "It's more common on overhead lines in the suburban areas."
Related News

Texas lawmakers propose electricity market bailout after winter storm
HOUSTON - An approximately $2.5 billion plan to bail out Texas’ distressed electricity market from the financial crisis caused by Winter Storm Uri in February has been approved by the Texas House.
The legislation would impose a fee — likely for the next decade or longer — on electricity companies, which would then get passed on to residential and business customers in their power bills. Lawmakers on Wednesday said they could not yet estimate how much it would impact Texans’ electricity bills.
House lawmakers sent House Bill 4492 to the Senate on Thursday after a 129-15 vote. A similar bill is advancing…