Washington state electrical stations vandalized, thousands lose power

Over the holiday weekend, several Washington electrical power substations were vandalized which led to over 14,000 utility customers cut without power.

Washington state authorities are investigating whether they were part of a “coordinated attack.”

“At this time deputies are conducting the initial investigation. We do not have any suspects in custody,” Washington authorities said, according to The Hill. “It is unknown if there are any motives or if this was a coordinated attack on the power systems.”

Power was finally restored by Monday in the afternoon after the utility company deployed a mobile substation in the final hours of restoration. A spokesperson for Gerald Tracy told USA TODAY on Tuesday that Puget Sound Energy restored power to all customer impacted by damaged substations. 

Needless to say, a similar attack happened at two energy substations in Moore County, North Carolina, last month, resulting in nearly 40,000 local residents losing power for days, with authorities reporting that the damages to the two Duke Energy substations were caused by gunfire. The FBI has already launched a probe into that case.