A power outage affecting approximately 4,000 customers in and around downtown Norfolk, Virginia, was caused early Monday morning when a raccoon came into contact with electrical equipment at a Dominion Energy substation. The incident occurred around 6 a.m. and impacted neighborhoods including Waterside, Brambleton, and Southside. Utility crews were able to restore service to all affected areas by about 8:30 a.m.

According to Dominion Energy, the raccoon’s contact with the substation equipment triggered an automatic safety feature designed to shut off power and prevent further damage to the electrical system, as well as protect public safety. The raccoon died as a result of the encounter.

Dominion officials noted that while substations are equipped with protective measures intended to deter wildlife from accessing energized components, animals sometimes still manage to breach these safeguards. The utility pointed out that wildlife-related outages can happen at any time of the year, with spring and fall seeing increased activity as animals forage and seek shelter.

The Norfolk incident is part of a broader pattern of wildlife-related power disruptions in the Hampton Roads area. Earlier this year, a squirrel was responsible for an outage affecting nearly 3,300 customers in Chesapeake and Portsmouth in June. In August 2024, a snake caused a larger outage in Newport News that left approximately 11,700 customers without power. A similar squirrel incident in 2022 led to an outage affecting more than 10,000 Dominion Energy customers in Virginia Beach. In that case, although the animal died, the utility’s protective systems helped prevent more extensive damage to the power grid.