Power outage: Squirrel and moisture to blame

Posted 5/30/19

The weather and a squirrel were to blame for power outages Sunday morning.

Before the start of Sunday morning services at Union Presbyterian Church, a loud pop was heard in the alley behind the …

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Power outage: Squirrel and moisture to blame

Posted

The weather and a squirrel were to blame for power outages Sunday morning.

Before the start of Sunday morning services at Union Presbyterian Church, a loud pop was heard in the alley behind the church.

It wasn’t a show-stopper. But it caused a slight alteration of plans before the conclusion of services.

Pastor George Pasek had just begun his Sunday sermon. Behind him, organist Judy Showalter stepped from the sanctuary. When she returned, she whispered in the pastor’s ear.

It was a little out of the ordinary. So was the news.

“The city is going to be shutting off the power,” Pasek told the congregation.

An employee of the city electrical department, unseen by Pasek and parishioners, had come into the church and motioned to the organist from a side door. She passed the message on.

Undeterred, Pasek resumed his sermon. When the lights blinked out a few minutes later, the pastor set down his microphone and spoke a little louder.

Later it was learned the pop heard in the church was from a wayward squirrel.

Steve Franck, electrical superintendent from the City of Powell, said weather caused further problems with the system in town. A reclosure that is supposed to keep the power on when there’s a disruption failed.

“We had to bypass it,” Franck explained.

This led to parts of town, including downtown and the aquatic center, to be without power for about three hours on Sunday. Franck said the problem is the rain.

“With so much weather right now, the moisture is finding weak points in the system,” he said.

But the big cause of Sunday’s power failure was ultimately the squirrel running across wet, energized wires.

“That ended his life pretty abruptly,” Franck said.

(Kevin Killough contributed to this report.)

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