Franklin County suffers widespread, brief power outage

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Numerous homes and businesses lost power this morning when a squirrel shorted out lines in a power station near Sewanee, Tenn., according to TVA officials.

Spokesman Mike Bradley said the power went out at 10:03 a.m. CDT and was restored exactly one hour later for Duck River Electric Membership Corp. customers served by the electrical station in Franklin County.

"They found a squirrel at the North Cowan-Sewanee station," Bradley said. "It looks like that was the culprit."

Bradley said crews had to de-energize the power grid while the squirrel was removed, but there were no further problems.