Around 10,000 homes in Japan were recently left without electricity after a snake slithered into an electric substation and fried itself to death.
According to Newsweek, residents of Koriyama City, in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture, faced a power outage on June 29 during the hottest part of the day at 2:10 in the afternoon. Investigators from the Tohoku Electric Power company managed to trace the cause of the outage and found the charred remains of a snake inside some machinery.
As per the investigators, the snake was still burning when it was found. It had come into contact with a live wire. As a result, smoke alarms were triggered and six fire trucks also raced to the scene. The short circuit triggered an immediate and automatic shutdown of the facility for safety reasons, the outlet reported.
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It took around an hour for the power to be restored to 10,000 homes and businesses. A barber reportedly said that he had to close his shop as his premises had become too hot to safely work in and welcome customers.
Citing Japan Today, Newsweek reported that the news about the snake even sparked much interest among residents. Some expressed shock at how easily a snake managed to disable the city's power facilities.
A resident said, “It's surprisingly easy to shut down important infrastructure that's indispensable to our lives.” Another added, “If it was hit by lightning or something I would understand, but a snake? They should be better protected."
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Some residents even hilariously joked and said, “Poor snake! The company should apologize and compensate its family,” Another stated, “Poor snake. I was born in the year of the snake, so this hits hard.”
Meanwhile, snakes have been in the headlines recently. A while back a picture of a giant snake feasting on a rainbow lorikeet while hanging upside down had taken the internet by storm.
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