(task) Raccoon's power station caper cuts electricity to 40,000 Seattle homes | World news | The Guardian

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grid, electricity
> http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/11/raccoon-power-station-outage-seattle-washington <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/11/raccoon-power-station-outage-seattle-washington>
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> Raccoon's power station caper cuts electricity to 40,000 Seattle homes
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> Nearly 40,000 homes were without power on Wednesday morning after a raccoon broke into a substation in Seattle <http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/seattle>, Washington, and single-pawedly brought down the electric grid in a dozen suburbs.
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> The creature caused 13 separate system outages during its brief but energetic visit.
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> — Adam Mertz (@AJMertz) May 11, 2016 <https://twitter.com/AJMertz/status/730431517206401024>
> Want to see the raccoon that knocked out power overnight in Seattle? Here's our video @djackthephotog <https://twitter.com/djackthephotog> https://t.co/dZeWbwIrw1 <https://t.co/dZeWbwIrw1> via @Q13FOX <https://twitter.com/Q13FOX>
> Seattle Power and Light tweeted that “an animal entered one of our substations” in the early hours of the morning, causing a power outage that stretched across the suburbs from Golden Gardens Park to Queen Anne, north of the city.
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> Eyewitness Jeff Pierce, who lives near the substation, told KIRO7 <http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/raccoon-knocks-out-power-to-38000-in-seattle/275837050> that he heard an explosion just before 3am, and then saw city workers and a dazed raccoon that had been shocked inside the substation.
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> Sadly, the raccoon did not survive the experience, Seattle Power and Light confirmed on Twitter.
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> An animal entered one of our substations causing this most recent outage. Still investigating and hope to get everyone powered up asap.
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> — Seattle City Light (‎@SEACityLight) 7:21 AM - 11 May 2016 <https://twitter.com/SEACityLight/status/730357239676968961>
> On Twitter, some users were already calling the event the Great Seattle Raccoon Blackout of 2016.
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> Electricity was not fully restored until about 8am, according to the utility.