Goose hitting hydro lines knocks out power

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/05/2012 (5235 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A wayward goose flying into a transmission line caused a power outage in south Winnipeg this morning that affected homes and traffic lights.

Hydro power was restored and the traffic lights were back on in the area by about  9 a.m..

About 3,000 customers in south St. Boniface and Fort Garry and traffic lights on south Pembina Highway and Bishop Grandin Boulevard were affected by the outage, Manitoba Hydro spokesman Anthonie Koop said.

Koop said power was restored to some customers by 8:50 a.m., and to the remainder by about 9:20 a.m.

 He said it appears the goose was trying to take off west of Pembina Highway near French Street and got tangled up in hydro lines. That caused an arc and a power surge, which damaged equipment on the line and knocked out the power. The goose didn’t survive.

 Koop said it took awhile for Hydro crews to find the cause of the outage, but once they did, it was fairly easy to repair the equipment.

  Koop said geese flying into power lines isn’t as rare as one might think.

 “They’ve had a few of these contacts this year already.”

 However, in most cases the bird only makes brief contact with the line, the power shuts off for a second or two, and then automatically comes back on once the bird is clear of the line, he added.