Thousands of people were left without power in central San Diego, after a squirrel caused a loud explosion. The outage slowed traffic across the city, shutting down restaurants and other businesses. NBC 7’s Astrid Solorzano reports.
A squirrel left more than 45,000 customers across San Diego without power for several hours Tuesday, according to San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E).
Residents from San Diego's University Heights to North Park to Normal Heights to Old Town and Kensington neighborhoods were without power from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., according to SDG&E spokeswoman Helen Gao.
The squirrel came in contact with a high voltage transmission line, leaving the entire substation shut down, Gao said.
Power was restored around 1:30 p.m., officials said.
A map of the outages is available on the power company's website.
