Snake in electrical box causes NY hospital outage

[August 27, 2010]  POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) -- A snake slithered into a switch box outside a New York hospital, where it met its maker and caused a 10-hour power outage.

Officials at Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie say backup generators kicked on Tuesday afternoon when a common-variety snake got into the switch box and disrupted the hospital's main power supply. Workers found the dead snake inside the box.

Hospital officials say there were no patient care disruptions caused by the outage, which lasted from 3 p.m. Tuesday to 1 a.m. Wednesday. Some emergency room cases had to be diverted to other hospitals.

While squirrels and other small animals have been known to get into electrical equipment and cause outages, a utility spokesman says it's the first time he's heard of a snake doing it.

___

Information from: Poughkeepsie Journal, http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.