Iguana sparks major power outage in South Florida
Ryan King
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Invasive iguanas are causing mayhem in Florida, with one iguana sparking a “large scale outage” in the City of Lake Worth Beach Wednesday, according to officials.
“Electric Utility is currently responding to a large scale outage caused by an iguana at our 6th Ave Substation,” the city tweeted Wednesday. “This outage is effecting customers in the South East area of our service territory. Our teams are working hard to repair the damage and restore the system.”
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The reptile-induced outage affected 1,431 customers, WPTV reported. Officials contend that iguanas have caused harm to other types of infrastructure in the past by digging burrows.
https://twitter.com/LakeWorthBchPBC/status/1600531433591869443
A map of outages indicates that power has been restored to the city, though officials have not confirmed the system is fully back online.
A handful of Floridians chimed in on social media and recounted horror stories of their encounters with the scaly green herbivores.
Green iguanas have a reputation for wreaking havoc on the Sunshine State, having fallen out of trees, injured bicyclists, and torn up residents’ backyards, among other offenses. Cold snaps, or instances when temperatures slide under 50 degrees, can cause iguanas to drop dead and fall from trees despite still being alive, as Floridians experienced in 2018.
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The creatures are not native to the Sunshine State and are deemed invasive because they can pose danger to wildlife in Florida, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Lake Worth Beach officials for comment.