Raccoon Causes Power Outage

I thought it had something to do with this nasty weather, but it turns out that a 'coon was the culprit.

A raccoon climbing on electrical equipment downtown plunged much of Huntsville into near-darkness Monday afternoon for more than an hour and a half.

Huntsville Utilities spokesman Bill Yell said the outage struck the city's main business district and stretched from Hampton Cove to Cummings Research Park. About 44,000 customers, including Huntsville Hospital, Crestwood Medical Center and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, were without electricity from 2:43 p.m. until about 4:30 p.m.

The blackout also caused some confusion for drivers, who had to navigate busy intersections without stoplights...

Yell, the utility spokesman, said the raccoon touched a piece of equipment in a downtown electric substation, causing a fault that knocked the station off line. Crews restored power to Huntsville Hospital and Crestwood first, then got everyone else's lights back on before dark.

The raccoon died.