How did a raccoon knock out power for large swaths of downtown Toronto last night? (toronto.ctvnews.ca)

submitted 9 months ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/world@lemmy.world

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A raccoon was behind the massive power outage that knocked out electricity to some 7,000 customers in downtown Toronto for hours Thursday night.

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[-] cralder@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

A raccoon was behind the massive power outage that knocked out electricity to some 7,000 customers in downtown Toronto for hours Thursday night.

Hydro One said a raccoon “made contact with equipment” at a downtown station, which cut the lights for parts of the city. The raccoon's condition is currently unknown

Fucking gold

[-] linearchaos@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The raccoon’s condition is currently ~~unknown~~ charcoal and meatspray.

I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting

Look, my lad, I know a dead ~~parrot~~ raccoon when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable ~~bird~~ mamal, the ~~Norwegian Blue~~ Canadian Trash Panda, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!

The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.

Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!

All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up!

[-] ivanafterall@kbin.social 7 points 9 months ago

What do you expect, equipment that can endure contact from a raccoon!?

[-] atx_aquarian@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Nah, we'll only splurge for that when the equipment serves at least eight thousand customers. Seven thousand is just not enough to justify it.

[-] Stamets@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago

It's pretty peak Toronto in all honesty. I mean this is the same city that set up a lil shrine for a dead raccoon that was just on the sidewalk. We're a weird city. This isn't even the first time it's happened. There was another blackout in Scarborough, part of the Greater Toronto Area, that happened because of a raccoon.

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I have never been to Toronto, but your description of it makes me think of Pawnee.

The raccoon problem is under control. They have their part of town, and we have ours

[-] Sabin10@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

We don't segregate our two societies here.

[-] throws_lemy@lemmy.nz 2 points 9 months ago

soon "Planet of the Raccoon"

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 18 points 9 months ago

Remember #DeadRaccoonTO

[-] RandomStickman@kbin.social 13 points 9 months ago

The fucking cigarette. I never noticed before lmao

[-] Cinner@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

I thought it was a half smoked joint.

[-] RandomStickman@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago

You might be right

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

"Hydro One(opens in a new tab) said a raccoon “made contact with equipment” at a downtown station, which cut the lights for parts of the city."

Whoah, whoah, whoah... Raccoon OK?

"The raccoon's condition is currently unknown."

🥺

[-] Cinner@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

The raccoon's condition is currently unknown.

Dry leather with a hint of bone underneath the char.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

if a single raccoon can cause this much damage the power company kinda deserves heat for this lol

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 months ago

You might not realize that a lot of the 4kV equipment they are working with in downtown Toronto is between 40 and 75 years old, and Toronto Hydro only has the budget to slowly replace them.

[-] febra@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

They’re that old everywhere. They’re transformers. They don’t just break like that by themselves. If they work they work.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 3 points 9 months ago

Typical transformer design lifes are 20 to 40 years because they are in near continuous operation (A random source). With the downtown core increasingly being built up, the utility did put in more capacity but are also relying on the existing aging equipment to take on more load.

Things naturally wear, weather, corrode over time, even things installed underground or in indoor vaults. Raccoon-shaped wires also strain equipment across the network, beyond the immediate failure point. There are other cases of "uniquely Toronto" problems across downtown and the 6 amalgamated boroughs that joined in 1999.

[-] moody@lemmings.world 9 points 9 months ago

Does anyone else think Avenue Road is a stupid name? Who thought that was a good idea?

[-] Ddub@lemmy.ca 18 points 9 months ago

The saying goes that when the Brits were marking out Toronto the surveyor put a stake in the road and said, let's 'ave a new road 'ere

[-] Vathsade@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 months ago

Sigh... Upvote

[-] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The raccoon in question

[-] Trashboat 3 points 9 months ago

Probably testing some Doofenshmirtz-esque evil invention

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago

Scandalously

this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2024

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