At 1:34PM a squirrel came in contact with a substation, cutting the power for 14,076 customers in parts of Long Beach, Hawaiian Gardens and Signal Hill. The power was restored at 2:09PM.

A squirrel and a metallic balloon caused two different power outages on Wednesday, each affecting about 14,000 customers in different parts of the city, according to Southern California Edison (SCE).

Later in the evening, another blackout caused by a metallic balloon coming in contact with equipment at East Broadway and Obispo Avenue was reported to SCE at 8:50PM. 14,421 customers lost their power but the majority had it restored by 9:31PM. The power wasn’t fully restored until Thursday morning at 3:20AM.

The SCE reports a rise in metallic balloon-related power outages for the month of June and warns of metallic balloon safety during graduation seasons.

The company is launching a “Stay Aware. Stay Safe.” campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of releasing metallic balloons and how to avoid balloon related outages.

Above, left photo: stock photo.