STORRS–Many students on UConn’s Storrs campus got an unexpected long weekend on Monday after a squirrel caused quite a bit of trouble.
Around noon, about 50 buildings on the college’s main campus–including academic and administrative buildings, as well as residence halls–lost power for several hours. All classes in the effected buildings were cancelled, and employees working in those buildings were sent home for the day.
Eversource responded to fix the issue, which originated in front of the Life Sciences Building.
But before the issue could be resolved, Eversource had to solve the question of what caused the issue in the first place. It turns out, a squirrel was able to climb into a transformer that was on top of a power pole on North Eagleville Road. The squirrel was electrocuted, and the ensuing spark ran along the power line, knocking out power to the nearest circuit, which served about 50 buildings across campus.
By 3 p.m. power was resolved, according to UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz, but classes for the rest of the day in the effected buildings remained cancelled.
As far as the squirrel, it died, “and pretty quickly, from the looks of it,” Reitz said, but no one else was injured.
