Squirrel caused more than 10,000 homes, businesses to lose power in Virginia

by: Brian Reese

Posted: Sep 8, 2022 / 03:45 PM EDT

Updated: Sep 8, 2022 / 03:45 PM EDT

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — More than 10,000 people lost power Wednesday morning in Virginia Beach after a squirrel got into a substation, Dominion Energy says.

The outage stretched from the Kempsville area northeast across I-264 to the King's Grant neighborhood, including Town Center.

Dominion expected power to be back sometime between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., but was able to restore power to about half of those affected shortly after things went out.

Dominion spokesperson Bonita Billingsley Harris then said in a tweet at 10:05 a.m. that all of the outages had been restored. The squirrel sadly is not believed to have survived after getting into a substation around 8:45 a.m., causing the outage.

The outage area included multiple schools, but a Virginia Beach Schools spokesperson said there were no changes to school schedules.

To view the outage map, click here.

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