Cat short-circuits Korea substation, causes power outage
Ulsan suffered a major blackout early after midnight on Dec 20, the second time this month, after a cat short-circuited a substation.
Image for illustration purposes.
South Korea, Ulsan: Ulsan suffered a major blackout early after midnight on Dec 20, the second time this month, after a cat short-circuited a substation.
Five apartment complexes with over 3,700 residents in Songjeong-dong, Buk District in Ulsan, experienced a power outage around 00:30 a.m. Wednesday. Power was fully restored an hour later. No serious injuries or casualties were reported, but residents shivered in the cold as their electrical heating systems shut down.
The police believe a cat who had been seeking shelter from the cold crawled into the substation on the rooftop of a seven-story building in Songjeong-dong and caused the short circuit. Sadly, the cat died from the electric shock.
“According to the Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco), the substation [that shut down the power] is connected to apartment complex electricity supply networks,” a Buk District office official said. “It appears that the electrocution of the cat caused the blackout.”
Kepco said the power system was repaired immediately after the outage. Restoring power to some apartment complexes took some time, depending on their power management systems.
It is notable that this was the second blackout in the city this month, as more than 155,000 homes in the city’s Nam District suffered a two-hour blackout on Dec. 6. This blackout even knocked out the traffic system. It was Korea’s second largest power outage after the one that affected 200,000 homes in Seoul and Gyeonggi in 2017. Kepco believes the blackout was caused by damage in the electric insulator at a 28-year-old substation in Ok-dong.
Source: Korea KoongAng Daily
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