A squirrel got into a substation around 9:45 a.m. today (Friday), causing a power outage for many Chillicothe Municipal Utilities customers. Power was fully restored about an hour later.
When the outage first occurred, about half of town was affected for three to four minutes; however, power remained out for an estimated 300 to 400 customers. The substation affected is located just south of the Armory. A work crew was immediately on site to fix the damage, which included replacing some insulators that were destroyed when the squirrel had intruded the area.
The area affected by the outage was generally from the substation on north, including the YMCA and areas of Park Center and the high school. Police offers directed traffic where the traffic signals were not working. Power was quickly restored to Hedrick Medical Center.
Chillicothe, Mo. —
