Electrocuted rat puts out Sweden powerStory Highlights
Electrocution of rat causes power outage in Stockholm's central train station
Early Saturday morning outage led to some delays in train traffic
11,000-volt blowout led to blackout in station and halted elevators
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- The electrocution of a fat rat in an electric station Saturday caused a three-hour power outage in Stockholm's central train station.
The early morning outage led to some delays in train traffic, since the rat's 11,000 voltage blowout led to a blackout in the station and halted elevators and escalators, Jesper Ekenlund, a spokesman for power company Fortum said.
Nearby hotels and shops were also affected, he said.
"The rat had sneaked into a secondary substation and came into contact with some parts that caused it to short circuit," he said.
"It must have been really big because there's a certain distance between the parts it touched."
Ekenlund said Fortum will now have to decontaminate the area where the rat met its fate.
"The blow was so forceful that it (the rat) actually burst," he said
