Iguana causes power outage in Florida, third case in a year

An iguana caused a “massive outage” at Lake Worth Beach in Florida last week. It was the city’s third iguana-caused outage this year. According to a CNN report, it affected about 1,400 customers in Lake Worth Beach in Palm County. The city later tweeted that power was restored within 35 minutes.

“LWB Electric Utility is currently responding to a massive outage caused by Iguana at our 6th Avenue substation. This outage is affecting customers in the southeast area of ​​our service area. Our teams are working to repair and restore damage. Working hard for the system,” it said on the microblogging platform.

LWB Electric Utility is currently responding to a massive outage caused by Iguana at our 6th Ave substation. This outage is affecting customers in the Southeast region of our service area. Our teams are working hard to repair the damage and restore systems. pic.twitter.com/by3FwTjCoE

— Lake Worth Beach (@LakeWorthBchPBC) December 7, 2022

A woman commented on the city’s Facebook post, saying that the iguana in her neighborhood “went under a transformer or something but it blew up and she fried”.

Ben Kerr, a spokesman for Lake Worth Beach in Palm County City, spoke to CNN and said the animal has caused three outages this year. “Every utility agency in Florida deals with this. It’s a nightmare,” he said. Mr Kerr added that “it is down 50 per cent from last year”.

According to Kerr, iguanas are more dangerous to power tools than birds or squirrels because they are excellent climbers and have larger bodies. “Unlike birds, the iguana’s tail and enormous size” help them make connections between the two parts of the electrical system, he remarked. This was most likely the source of the recent outage.

Read also: Video of pet iguana eating watermelon with owner goes viral

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “Green iguanas are not native to Florida and are considered an invasive species because of their impact on native wildlife.” They were also added to Florida’s restricted species list.

“This species may be caught and humanely killed year-round without a permit or hunting license on 25 public lands in South Florida,” the commission said.