Squirrelly situation: Critter causes South Carolina outages

COLUMBIA, SC (AP) — A section of South Carolina’s capital city was without power Monday after a squirrel scurrying across equipment caused damage that led to a blackout.

Dominion Energy says the critter caused the outages in downtown Columbia.

Spokesman Matt Long said the squirrel came into contact with the protective device surrounding a transformer and was killed during the encounter.

Another power outage was reported Monday after a dump truck hit some wires in the city.

By 11:45 a.m., nearly 1,800 customers had reported being without power but crews were working to make repairs in the remaining affected areas.