Snake slithers across Virginia substation, and 6,500 lose power overnight

Planes certainly aren't the only place that snakes can cause a bit of disruption.

To wit, a snake at a power substation caused an overnight outage that cut electricity to thousands of people in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, as WHSV 3 News reported.

What happened?

The station said about 6,500 Dominion Energy customers in the Shenandoah Valley lost power shortly after midnight on July 1, when a snake crossed onto important equipment at an electrical substation, triggering a protective shutdown.

Dominion Energy spokesperson Craig Carper told WHSV that the substation's automatic safety systems worked as intended and prevented a more serious equipment failure. The network said that service was restored after about two hours and 15 minutes.

The company said the substation sustained only minor damage, which helped crews restore power relatively quickly. Utility officials also said wildlife-related outages like this are unusual but not unprecedented, per WHSV.

"Snakes, squirrels, birds ... some of our wildlife friends don't know what they're getting into and sometimes it can cause problems for them and for us," Carper told the station.

Dominion customers have seen a similar problem before, as People noted. Back in 2024, the outlet reported that a snake entered a high-voltage area of a Newport News substation and briefly knocked out service to more than 11,000 customers before crews restored power.

Why does it matter?

Overnight power losses can disrupt air conditioning, refrigeration, internet service, alarms, medical equipment, and sleep. That's heightened during hot summer weather, when losing electricity can quickly become a health and safety concern.

Human-built infrastructure can create dangerous overlap with wildlife. Snakes are not seeking out people or trying to sabotage the grid, but substations, wires, and other electrical equipment are placed in landscapes animals already move through. 

As development expands and more land is shaped around roads, neighborhoods, and utility corridors, such encounters can become harder to avoid.

Modern energy systems are designed for people, but they exist in shared environments. When animals come into contact with that equipment, the effects can spread quickly, ranging from minor inconvenience to broader service disruptions.

What's being done?

Utilities can install barriers and other protective features at substations to reduce the likelihood of wildlife entry, though officials say no solution can prevent every encounter. In this outage, the automatic shutdown system helped limit the damage, WHSV noted.

By isolating the issue, the safety system reduced the risk of a prolonged equipment failure and helped expedite restoration efforts.

Utility outage alerts, charged flashlights, and backup batteries for phones or essential medical devices can help during a short outage. During summer outages, keeping refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible can help protect food.

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