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Squirrel triggers power outage on Bloomington's east side
By Sharon K. Wolfe
swolfe@pantagraph.com
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BLOOMINGTON -- Despite a big tall fence and squirrel guards, a squirrel got into a substation on Bloomington’s east side late Tuesday afternoon. That led to equipment malfunctions, triggering a power outage that lasted into the evening in a heavily commercial area.

The substation affected was at Oakland Avenue and Veterans Parkway, Bloomington fire reports said.

About 1,450 homes and businesses remained without power early Tuesday evening. About 2,300 homes and businesses were initially affected starting at 5:39 p.m. Tuesday, said Natalie Hemmer, an Ameren IP spokeswoman. About 860 customers were restored by 7 p.m. Tuesday due to rerouting, she said. Crews worked Tuesday evening to restore the rest.

The area was roughly bounded by Lincoln Street on the south, Washington Street to the north, Towanda Avenue to the west and Hershey Road to the east, said Hemmer.

The outage affected stoplights on Veterans Parkway from Eastland Drive to Commerce Parkway along with some businesses, Bloomington police said.

Two grocery stores and a chain restaurant said Tuesday evening they were not allowed to comment to the media.

The brief outage at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 1701 E. Empire St., closed the business for half an hour.

“We’re open and we have lights,” said Peggy Herman, bookseller on Tuesday evening. But the outage left a longer impact with electronics not working, including online, on Tuesday evening for a time.

“We’re doing everything manually,” said Herman, bookseller on Tuesday evening. “We’re great team,” she said of the staff. “It’s a great adventure.” She said customers seemed unaffected.

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Reader comments on this story - 23 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Hopefully... wrote on Aug 29, 2007 10:31 PM:

" the squirrel was not injured. "

Rocky the FRYING Squirrel wrote on Aug 29, 2007 9:11 PM:

" This is just nuts! "

The squirrels wrote on Aug 29, 2007 7:35 PM:

" Are trained suicide terrorist going after our power grid ! It's the end of the world I tells ya, THE END OF THE WORLD ! "

12-Foot Midget wrote on Aug 29, 2007 5:44 PM:

" I always just assumed that the power went off in B-N when there was a stiff breeze. Glad to know that there is actually a *good* reason. "

HAHA wrote on Aug 29, 2007 4:02 PM:

" We are invaded with Squirrels? I wonder how Squirrel jerky is? "

second outage wrote on Aug 29, 2007 1:37 PM:

" blamed on a squirrel in a month...in two different substations. maybe they need better "squirrel guards"...or maybe they just need to quit lying and take responsibility "

hahah wrote on Aug 29, 2007 1:25 PM:

" I have to say that some of these comments are hillarious!!!! This has got to be the best blogging I have seen yet!!! LOL "

George Costanza wrote on Aug 29, 2007 12:45 PM:

" I thought we had a deal with the squirrels. "

Tim Bedor wrote on Aug 29, 2007 12:31 PM:

" Squirrels are used for surveliance. This is very concerning! We need to launch an attack against the squirrels, mountain lions, moose, and asian carp! Forget the UN, we go it alone, I'm sure the Brits will joins us, they always do! "

Tim Bedor wrote on Aug 29, 2007 12:30 PM:

" Squirrels are used for surveliance. This is very concerning! We need to launch an attack against the squirrels, mountain lions, moose, and asian carp! Forget the UN, we go it alone, I'm sure the Brits will joins us, they always do! "

To HaHa wrote on Aug 29, 2007 12:12 PM:

" The squirrels live on the east side of town, but all of the nuts are on the west side. It's the commute that's causing the problem. "

Osama bin Squirrel wrote on Aug 29, 2007 11:13 AM:

" This was no accident. This was a deliberate attempt to disrupt the commute and lifestyles of your megalopolis. You see how easy it is for us to throw you into chaos. So stop putting out poison corn and keeping us from your bird feeders. Next time, maybe we will abduct your cat! "

Funny wrote on Aug 29, 2007 9:33 AM:

" how they seem to always blame it on a squirrel and never on themselves. "

BobandTom wrote on Aug 29, 2007 9:01 AM:

" People, this is all part of the animal conspiracy to take over the world. The squirrels have always been the leaders! "

You're hired wrote on Aug 29, 2007 8:50 AM:

" How did the squirrel know which levers, buttons and dials to work to do this? That squirrel is smarter than most teenagers. "

HAHA wrote on Aug 29, 2007 7:42 AM:

" We don't have squirrels on the west side. I'm SO GLAD I live over here. You can HAVE your squirrel problems EAST SIDERS. HAhahahaha "

Rules of the Road wrote on Aug 29, 2007 7:17 AM:

" I was at the stop light at Veterans and Eastland. Most of the motorists followed the rulse of the road and let each other take turns going through the intersection. However, there were several who either went with the car in front of them or didn't even stop. Is two seconds of your time worth someone's life? Perhaps some people need to take the driving test every year. "

hmmmm wrote on Aug 29, 2007 7:05 AM:

" I always thought a bunch of squirrels lived on the east side of town. "

teej wrote on Aug 29, 2007 6:44 AM:

" proves my point about the tree rats, should be leagal to hunt them in town, a good pellet gun will take them down, but they need to be head shots "

FYI wrote on Aug 29, 2007 12:50 AM:

" About time for someone to accuse the squirrel of being from the west side...good squirrel gone bad "

Pepe Le Peu wrote on Aug 28, 2007 11:17 PM:

" Squirrels are so stupid. "

Boy talk about wrote on Aug 28, 2007 10:31 PM:

" roasting your nuts! "

I'm sure PETA wants to know... wrote on Aug 28, 2007 9:00 PM:

" ...what happened to the squirrel? If it caused the power outage, it's probably either totally fried or one really smart squirrel. "
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