Raccoon knocks out power to thousands

A raccoon knocked out power to thousands in Yarmouth last Wednesday night, marking the second time in four days that a raccoon was blamed for plunging thousands of Nova Scotia Power customers into the dark.

The power outage in Yarmouth affected 4,114 customers.

Nova Scotia Power says around 10:20 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27, people reported having seen a bright blue flash near the Tim Hortons on Starrs Road. On social media many people said they heard a loud bang.

“The power went out and it affected two key lines,” said Nova Scotia Power spokesperson Beverly Ware. “Because of the fact it was these two main lines, the crews went to the substation that fed them, believing that that’s where the issue was.”

When crews arrived they discovered that a raccoon had gotten into the substation and had gone up a pole and come into contact with live wires, causing damage to the equipment. The raccoon’s carcass was found at the scene. An electrical maintenance crew was called in and arrived on site at 2 a.m.

“It was quite specialized work that had to be done,” Ware explained. “They were able to re-energize the substation at 4:40 this morning.”

Not everyone affected by the outage completely lost power. For many the night started out as a brown-out, where they still had partial electricity in their homes or on their streets. It is recommended during a brown-out to unplug appliances and electrical items.

Areas of the town and county were affected by the outage. Power was restored by 5 a.m.

On Sunday, May 24, around 5,500 customers in Cumberland County were without power after a raccoon got into a substation in Springhill and onto a transformer.