Gnawing Squirrel Cuts Power to Thousands
A squirrel gnawing on a power cable caused 9,600 Woodland Hills and Canoga Park residents to lose their electricity early Sunday morning.
A Department of Water and Power computer detected the problem about 7 a.m. at its distribution station in the 22200 block of Victory Boulevard, said spokeswoman Valerie Roberts Gray.
The squirrel chewed through a 34.5 kilovolt line, which triggered shutdowns in two other cables--part of a protection mechanism that prevents damage from spreading out from the station. Workers restored power to half the customers at 7:30 a.m. and the rest in the next five minutes.
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