Chelan County PUD Outages Get Squirrely Over the Weekend

Chelan County PUD crews were contending with nature over the weekend, resulting in three power outages throughout the valley.

Around 5:41 a.m. on July 22, Chelan County PUD reported a power outage in the Lake Wenatchee area that left 600 customers without power. Power was later restored around 11:30 a.m.

The following day on July 23 around 9:30 a.m., there was a second outage in the Lake Wenatchee area, once again affecting 600 customers. Power was restored less than an hour later.

Finally, early in the morning on July 24, over 1,000 Wenatchee residents were without power between Red Apple Road to Washington, Lambert, and Okanogan streets.

The cause: a squirrel outside a substation in Wenatchee. The Lake Wenatchee outages are expected to also be animal-related.

In response to these outages, Chelan County PUD spokesperson Neil Neroutsos said they will continue checking the protective equipment and bush covers on their substations and monitor their power lines of bird interference.

Neroutsos did mention that Wenatchee has had a growing squirrel population over the past few years.