Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
An owl hit a power line and momentarily zapped electricity to more than 1,500 homes, businesses and schools in Rochester early today.
Rochester Public Utilities spokesman Tony Benson said the owl apparently touched two of three overhead wires and caused an instantaneous interruption of power.
A breaker automatically restored power to most customers. But 19 of the 1,583 affected customers lost electricity from the time of the accident, about 12:40 a.m., until 2:30 a.m., he said.
An RPU repair crew found a dead owl at the base of a power pole in the 900 block of North Broadway, Benson said.
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The outage affected an area from the east frontage road of U.S 52 on the west to Second Avenue Northeast on the east, and from 17th Street Northwest on the north to Civic Center Drive Northwest on the south, Benson said.
