This Is Why Thousands Of People On Grand Rapids West Side Lost Power

Nobody likes it when the power goes out, especially with the warm weather we've been experiencing lately in West Michigan.

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We've been running our A/C so much I don't even want to know what this month's energy bill is going to be.

Early Monday morning around 8:30 AM, thousands of Grand Rapids residents on the city's West Side had their power knocked out.

This outage wasn't from severe weather or a car crashing into a pole, no, this power outage was caused by a cute little rodent.

Squirrel Knocks Out Power For Thousands On Grand Rapids West Side

Consumers Energy started receiving reports of power outages around 8:30am this morning.

Most of the outages were experienced by people living south of I-196 and west of 131 on both sides of the Grand River.

Read More: 25 Things Michigan Is Known And Famous For

Several hours after the power was knocked out, the culprit was revealed. It was a squirrel at the Wealthy Street substation.

I think it's safe to assume that the squirrel didn't survive the power outage, or if he did, he's got one heck of a story to tell his buddies.

How Do Squirrels Cause Power Outages

According to Consumers Energy around 8% of all power outages are caused by wildlife coming into accidental contact with lines and equipment, especially substations.

These are the three most common ways that squirrels cause power outages.

Chewing through wires and insulation: Squirrels have a constant need to chew to keep their teeth filed down.

Power lines and electrical insulation provide an ideal material for this.

When they chew through the insulation, it can expose live wires, leading to short circuits, overheating, fires, or explosions, and ultimately, an outage

Entering substations and electrical equipment: This is most likely what caused the power outage this morning.

Substations offer warm, dark, and quiet places for squirrels to nest and store food.

Once inside, they can gnaw on cables, knock over equipment, and create short circuits by simultaneously contacting two conductors with different electrical potentials.

Bridging electrical gaps: When a squirrel climbs on electrical equipment, it can accidentally create a path for electricity to flow by touching a live wire and a grounded part of the equipment at the same time.

This completes a circuit through the squirrel's body, causing a short circuit that typically blows a fuse and results in a power outage.