Possum blamed after thousands of homes, businesses plunged into darkness

Authorities are holding a possum responsible for a widespread blackout that plunged most of the Western Australian city of Bunbury into darkness.

WA’s second biggest city was plunged into darkness after a rogue possum found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

According to Western Power, 12,000 homes and commercial properties across Dalyeyup, Australind, College Grove, Glen Iris, Eaton, Devenport and the Bunbury CBD lost power around 9.30pm on Tuesday after an animal touched “the wrong bit” of a powerline.

“The cause of the outage was animal interference,” said a Western Power spokesperson.

Western Ringtail Possum. Picture: Wikipedia

“Western ringtail possums and brushtail possums are known to use the overhead power network to move from one habitat to another.

“This sometimes leads to contact with live lines and unfortunately possum death, as well as power outages.”

It comes after the government agency completed a program of work to safeguard possums in recent years by installing ‘possum guards’ in high density habitats that are significant for the species.

Bunbury residents regained power by 11.30pm. Picture: Google

“While possum guards are extremely effective in minimising possum interactions with the network, the size of the network and density of tress in the southwest is extensive,” the spokesperson said.

While the spokesperson wasn’t able to specify where in the network the incident occurred, one resident said on Facebook her husband “saw a bright flash to the northeast and then within a minute the power went out.”

“Probably the possum fireworks show,” another user replied.

Power was restored quickly following the outage, with Western Power confirming all customers were back online by 11.30pm.