EDIS Number: PW-20111013-32671-USA
Date / time: 13/10/2011 16:10:18 [UTC]Event: Power Outage
Area: North-America
Country: USA
State/County: State of Connecticut
Location: Greenwich 
Number of Deads: N/A
Number of Injured: N/A
Number of Infected: N/A
Number of Missing: N/A
Number of Affected: 14507 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: N/A
Damage level: Heavy

Description:

A squirrel is to blame for the power outage that left half of Greenwich customers in the dark this morning. CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross said there was a problem at the substation in the Cos Cob area of town. A squirrel got into the substation and caused an explosion around 8:15 this morning. The explosion created flames that soared 150 feet into the air. CL&P reported that 14,507 customers lost power as a result of the incident, including a police station, whose generators did not work. Officers were in the dark, but now have the power back on. They never lost their emergency phone lines. Additionally, traffic lights were reported out, causing traffic problems, and people were stuck in elevators. CL&P has 27,910 customers in Greenwich. Gross said that the power is returning to the area, and it should be returned to all customers in a few hours. The squirrel did not survive the explosion.