A Snake's Surprise: Power Outage in Virginia

A power outage left about 11,700 residents in Virginia without electricity on Shabbat evening. Dominion Energy officials reported that the blackout was caused by a snake that made its way into a high-voltage area and came into contact with a transformer.

The company's crews quickly responded and managed to restore power within about an hour and a half. Although the specific species of the snake responsible for the disruption is still unknown, its actions were certainly significant.

The snake caused the power outage by crawling into a high-voltage area and then making contact with the transformers. At around 9:15 PM, there were over 6,000 reported power outages. According to NBC, Dominion Energy crews were able to restore power by around 10:30 PM, approximately an hour and a half after the initial outage reports.

As mentioned, the snake's species hasn't been identified yet, but garter snakes and rat snakes are common in Virginia, possibly making it one of these species.

According to People magazine, in May, there were four power outages caused by snakes near Nashville, Tennessee. Throughout the month, several snakes crawled into a power station in Franklin, resulting in electrical shorts.