(NewsNation) — The deep freeze during the holiday weekend cut off power to more than half a million homes and businesses. But in addition to winter-related outages, some also saw their power disrupted by apparent vandalism.
In Pierce County, Washington, four power substations were broken into and damaged on Christmas day —impacting as many as 14,000 residents.
“To pick Christmas as a way to do it. What’s the message, what’s the reasoning for it?” asked Sgt. Darren Moss of the Pierce County Sherriff’s Department during an appearance on “Rush Hour.”
“These kinds of events are on the rise,” NewsNation’s Markie Martin noted. Earlier this month, vandals cut off power to thousands of people after attacking power substations in North Carolina.
But winter weather continued to be the main culprit behind power outages. In South Carolina, some residents lost power after a transformer blew up.
“First I woke up to like a big, loud boom…I looked out and I just saw these big giant balls of fire,” said Spartanburg, South Carolina resident Judy Fowler.
Read more about NewsNation’s coverage of recent attacks on substations:
Federal law enforcement warned of attacks on power plants
Exclusive: Report shows 6 ‘intrusions’ at Florida power stations
Suspected white supremacist shared substation info online
Are current security standards enough to protect power grid?