Widespread power outage in Gatineau caused by raccoon entering substation: Hydro-Québec

A raccoon crosses a street in the Taunus region near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

Thousands of residents in Gatineau, Que. were out of power early Sunday morning after a raccoon entered a substation and triggered an outage.

Hydro-Québec spokesperson Pascal Poinlane tells CTV News Ottawa the outage was reported at approximately 3 a.m. Sunday and impacted around 10,700 customers.

Poinlane says there was no damage to the equipment at the substation, but the power had to be turned off as a precaution.

“The protection systems triggered the de‑energization of the substation to protect the equipment,” he said in an email.

Power remained turned off for less than 200 customers by 10:45 a.m. and was fully restored by 1:45 p.m.

“It can happen several times a year, but usually it is caused by birds, not raccoons,” Poinlane said.

Raccoons can occasionally pose a problem for utility companies as the animals are able to chew through critical equipment.

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