Squirrel blamed for power outage

VANCOUVER, Wash. – A hungry squirrel has been blamed for a power outage that snarled rush-hour traffic. Electricity was cut for about an hour and a quarter Wednesday morning to about 5,145 residential and business customers, mostly in the McLoughlin Heights neighborhood, after the rodent caused a short circuit at a substation.

The outage also affected traffic lights, including one at the busy intersection of Washington 500 and St. Johns Road, where westbound traffic was backed up for about a mile, Washington State Patrol Trooper Garvin March said.

A substation worker found the remains of a squirrel with a walnut lying nearby, Clark Public Utilities spokesman Mick Shutt said.

“They just get into electrical equipment and in some fashion short the thing out,” Shutt said. “They conduct electricity, and that’s it.”