The energy minister for the island nation reported that the power outage was initially caused by a monkey when it came into contact with a grid transformer. This caused cascading problems throughout the grid that resulted in a nationwide power outage for all 22 million residents. An unnamed engineer told the Daily Mirror that “the national power grid is in such a weakened state that frequent island-wide power outages may be expected if there is a disturbance in one of our lines,” explaining how one monkey was able to take down the entire system.
What animal knocked out the power grid for all of Sri Lanka?
Answer: A monkey.
Shutterstock/Menna
No matter how advanced our technology, Mother Nature always finds a way to knock us down a peg. Over the weekend, residents of Sri Lanka found themselves without power during a heat wave, but it wasn’t because of the oppressive temperatures.
The energy minister for the island nation reported that the power outage was initially caused by a monkey when it came into contact with a grid transformer. This caused cascading problems throughout the grid that resulted in a nationwide power outage for all 22 million residents. An unnamed engineer told the Daily Mirror that “the national power grid is in such a weakened state that frequent island-wide power outages may be expected if there is a disturbance in one of our lines,” explaining how one monkey was able to take down the entire system.
Power was quickly restored to critical facilities like hospitals, but many residents didn’t get their electricity back until the next day.
The energy minister for the island nation reported that the power outage was initially caused by a monkey when it came into contact with a grid transformer. This caused cascading problems throughout the grid that resulted in a nationwide power outage for all 22 million residents. An unnamed engineer told the Daily Mirror that “the national power grid is in such a weakened state that frequent island-wide power outages may be expected if there is a disturbance in one of our lines,” explaining how one monkey was able to take down the entire system.
