Power outage in northern Mecklenburg Co. caused by squirrel, officials say

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Officials said a power outage Saturday morning affecting about 10,000 customers in northern Mecklenburg County was caused by a squirrel.

The outage, which began at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, was last projected to end by 12:30 p.m. the same day, according to EnergyUnited.

Crews have found a squirrel in the Northcross Substation, which caused the outage that is currently impacting approx 10k members in Huntersville/Cornelius areas. They are working to backfeed power to the station and then will energize 8 circuits individually. pic.twitter.com/KzzFwgFfVh
— EnergyUnited (@EnergyUnitedEMC) October 23, 2021

Crews found a squirrel in the Northcross Substation, officials said, which caused the outage. It affected about 10,000 customers in the Huntersville and Cornelius areas.

In a post on Facebook, Huntersville Police said traffic signals were not working. Police instructed residents to treat traffic lights that weren’t operating as a four-way stop. Police updated at 11:30 Saturday morning that power had been restored to the area.

EnergyUnited said they are working to backfeed power to the station and then will energize 8 circuits individually.

Update 12:40 p.m. - We have energized all circuits; however, one line section is still without power. Crews are on location and are working to resolve the issue to restore power to the affected members as safely and quickly as possible.
— EnergyUnited (@EnergyUnitedEMC) October 23, 2021