Washington hit with 3 power outages this month

WASHINGTON, N.C. (WITN) - The city of Washington has experienced several power outages this month, leaving some residents frustrated and curious.

City leaders say each outage was caused by something different, from electrical problems to circuit issues, even squirrels.

“We have a lot of incidents where squirrels or things of that nature become injured in the lines and cause outages,” Washington City Manager Jonathan Russell told WITN.

Monday’s culprit? Balloons.

The outage affected businesses along Market Street, including Washington’s Duck Thru gas station.

“The power kept going out, and it was really frustrating because I couldn’t get anything done,” Tamika Middleton, the Washington Duck Thru manager, told WITN. “And every time we kept getting back up, it was shut right back down.”