Nationwide power outage in Sri Lanka caused by monkey in electrical grid
No more monkeys jumping on the power grid!
A countrywide power outage that left many stuck without cool air during a sweltering hot day in Sri Lanka has been blamed on a rogue monkey who climbed into a power station south of the capital Colombo.
The blackout hit around midday Sunday right as temperatures peaked for the day around 86 degrees Fahrenheit. It left the entire nation, home to approximately 22 million people, without any power and compromised key facilities including hospitals and water purification plants.
“A monkey came into contact with our grid transformer, causing an imbalance in the power system,” the energy minister, Kumara Jayakody, explained to reporters.
Areas without generators were still dark as night fell.
The Ceylon Electricity Board, home to the grid that was bamboozled by just one monkey, issued an apology but didn’t touch on how exactly one small animal could cause such a catastrophe.
Sri Lanka has long struggled with energy security, with experts consistently warning that its power grid is outdated and prone to disruptions.
“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,” an unnamed senior engineer was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.
In 2022, the nation had rolling blackouts during the depth of an economic crisis coupled with fuel shortages that forced authorities to ration electricity for up to 13 hours daily.
Sri Lankans weren’t perturbed, though, and took to social media to poke fun at their nation’s flimsy power grid.
“One monkey = total chaos. Time to rethink infrastructure?” one user wrote.
“Only in Sri Lanka can a monkey knock out the entire nation’s electricity,” another joked.
The monkey’s fate is unclear.
Overpopulation of monkeys is a growing issue in the country. The toque macaque, a monkey species native to Sri Lanka, is estimated to be booming on the island with a population roughly between 2 and 3 million and going strong.
The monkeys aren’t shy either and are prone to raiding villages for food as humans continue to move further into their habitats.
