Squirrel to blame for morning power outage in Providence

THE TUESDAY MORNING POWER OUTAGE in downtown Providence that affected more than 4,000 National Grid customers occurred when a squirrel touched a live wire in the South Street substation, seen in the middle of the photo against the abandoned South Street power station, which is being converted into academic administrative offices and an advanced nursing education center by Brown University, Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island. / PBN FILE PHOTO/NATALJA KENT
THE TUESDAY MORNING POWER OUTAGE in downtown Providence that affected more than 4,000 National Grid customers occurred when a squirrel touched a live wire in the South Street substation, seen in the middle of the photo against the abandoned South Street power station, which is being converted into academic administrative offices and an advanced nursing education center by Brown University, Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island. / PBN FILE PHOTO/NATALJA KENT

PROVIDENCE – More than 4,000 National Grid customers in downtown Providence Tuesday morning lost power after a squirrel caused an outage at the South Street substation.
National Grid spokesman David D. Graves said the outage happened just after 10 a.m., affecting 4,500 customers when a squirrel came into contact with a conductor carrying electricity, causing the equipment to fail and “a very loud bang and explosive sound which was heard by many people in the downtown area.”
The South Street substation is next South Street Landing, the multimillion project to renovate the old power station into academic offices and an advanced nursing education center.
The problem at South Street caused the Dyer Street and Franklin Square substations also to lose power, as they are close by, he said. The system is designed to safeguard itself by shutting down when a problem happens, Graves explained.
An area of Westminster Street, including the Providence Business News office, was affected by the outage.
Graves said the majority of customers had power restored at about noon. The National Grid website was showing less than five customers without power in Providence County, with restoration estimated for 2:30 p.m.
National Grid workers are checking equipment at the substations, as well as underground cables, to assess what needs to be replaced, Graves said. He said he does not anticipate any additional outages as work progresses this afternoon.

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