A turkey vulture caused an electrical outage that reportedly left about 1,300 people in the Chatfield area without power for just under an hour Monday morning.
Turkey vulture causes southeast Minnesota power outage
About 1,300 people in the Chatfield area were affected.
July 18, 2022 at 10:09PM
The outage was caused when the bird flew into two power lines at the same time at People's Energy Cooperative, according to Gwen Stevens, the director of Cooperative Services. Stevens said the bird did not survive.
Customers in Chatfield and nearby townships were without power for about 48 minutes before power was restored at about 10 a.m.
An animal causing a power outage isn't unheard of — energy companies say squirrels often are at fault in such power failures — but Stevens said a bird causing an outage is rare.
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