Chutian Metropolis Daily - Photo: Workers repairing on-site, photo by reporter Chen Yong. (Reporter Liu Junhua) Yesterday, a little mouse with itchy teeth bit through the underground wires connecting the traffic lights, causing vehicles on Xudong Street in Wuchang to be stranded for over 5 hours.
At around 8:00 AM yesterday, readers began calling our newspaper reporting that the traffic lights at the intersection of Xudong Street and Tuanjie Avenue were all off, leading to heavy congestion on this section of road. Upon arriving at the scene, I observed that none of the multi-directional traffic lights at the intersection were lit. There was less traffic on the flyover, while the traffic below moved slowly. Especially at the intersection of Xudong Street and Tuanjie Avenue, where straight-going cars and cross-going cars fought for the right of way, resulting in total chaos.
Mr. Yang, a driver stuck at the scene, complained to me that at such a busy intersection, with the traffic lights out, no traffic police had come to direct the traffic. I called the 122 Traffic Reporting Platform, and the staff informed me that repairs were already arranged, and the traffic police were on their way.
About 50 meters away from the traffic lights, more than ten workers responsible for checking the underground wires connected to the traffic lights were searching for the fault point. Due to the weight of nearly one ton of the wire manhole cover, which made it inconvenient to move, the search process lasted nearly three hours. Around 11:30 AM, the workers finally discovered three break points in the wire.
After examining the damage marks at the break points, the maintenance workers preliminarily determined that the wires were bitten through by rats. It wasn't until about 1 PM that the broken wires were repaired, and the traffic lights resumed working. At this time, the traffic chaos had continued for more than 5 hours.
According to people from the power maintenance department, the main anti-rat measure for underground cables within Wuhan city is to thicken the insulation sheath. However, due to factors such as wire aging and construction pulling, the sheath can become fragile, making it unavoidable for wires to be bitten through by rats.
Power outage accidents caused by rats biting through wires are not uncommon worldwide. In 1938, New York City in the United States experienced a city-wide blackout due to cables being damaged by rats. Some readers have called for relevant departments to strengthen the maintenance of critical location wires, while simultaneously accelerating the research, development, and application of rat-bite prevention technology for wires.
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