Squirrel to blame for outages in multiple New West neighbourhoods

Amid reports of sudden power outages in various New West neighbourhoods on Thursday afternoon, it turns out a furry creature was to blame.

On Friday afternoon, the City of New Westminster confirmed over X/Twitter that a squirrel was the culprit.

“For those wondering, a friendly neighbourhood squirrel decided to play the most electrifying game of hide and seek at BC Hydro's substation yesterday!” The City of New Westminster shared in the update.

A number of users over X/Twitter tagged the City of New West in posts on Thursday to let the account know that they were without power, with the first one showing up in the noon hour.

The Anchor received reports of at least one power outage in the Downtown area along 6th St., and some drivers also mentioned having to use four-way stop procedures with traffic lights losing power.

Other impacted areas included Victoria Hill, Queen’s Park, and Glenbrooke North.

And no, the squirrel did not survive, with the City of New West noting the wee creature’s adventure ended in a “squirrely farewell.”