I was out about an hour ago walking my dog in the snow (we got hit with about 20 inches here), and on my way back I was crossing a busy street that connects with the side street I live on. There was a bit of a snow bank from the plows blocking the sidewalk, so I hopped over/into it, when all of a sudden my knees buckled and I felt a surge not unlike what happens when you hit your funny bone. At first, I thought I had just landed on my foot funny. Then I hear my big dog Zuk yelping frantically. Now I think I have accidentally fallen on him. Then I realize a) that he’s behind me and b) that I’m still feeling these pulses of tingling and that it’s electricity, mostly on my left side. I manage to get out of the stray voltage area, but my dog is still in there, yelping and crying. I drag him out, he’s going crazy biting at the air, tail tucked between his legs, and apparently pooping himself (which I only noticed later.)
Anyhow, I managed to regain composure a few seconds later, called 911 to report the incident and the area where the stray voltage is, and am knocking pack an Eliot Ness porter to ease myself a bit. I’ve been shocked before, but never like this, where my whole body just buckles down. And poor doggie. He seems to be doing okay now.
Did you give 911 your name? I’d make a report to the city and the local utility. If anything further happens to you or your dog, they [the city or the utility] should be on the hook for it. Even if it was weather related, that’s what insurance is for and yours shouldn’t be covering it.
Report it now, for sure, but in the next day or two, I’d call whoever comes out to deal with it and see if you can get a report to see what they did. Hopefully it was just 120 running to the houses, but if it was on the primary side or even before a substation it could be substantially higher.
Yikes!
You may (depending on your age) want to get an EKG, just to see that your heart hasn’t picked up an arrhythmia.
Took me 8 tries to spell that right.
Pull up the utility’s website and find some kind of emergency contact. Similarly, pull up your city’s website, probably the DPW and find some kind of emergency number, but 911 is probably the best you can do this late at night.
Having said that, someone, probably from the electric company, should be out there ASAP, like within the hour, digging up the snow and climbing a pole in the area to see what’s going on.
If it was anywhere near my house, I’d make sure all my computers (etc) were turned off in case they cut the power to work on it. There’s clearly an unsafe situation of a random person walking down the sidewalk can get that bad of a shock. The problem with calling 911 is that they might not know what to do with it or even show up to look any time soon.
I just went back out there (it’s about a quarter mile from my house), and there is a squad car at the corner. They were actually watching the opposite corner for a downed line and, sure enough, the corner I was at had the other end of the downed line maybe 2-3 feet from where I stepped in the snow bank. I told them to back the car up and make sure nobody steps across this side of the street either, and pointed to exactly where I got shocked. I guess they’re waiting for the utility to arrive.
Thanks. We’re all seemingly back to normal now. Zuk and a peanut buttered rawhide brought him out of his funk, tail back into normal happy position, and my couple-two-three porters did the same for me.
Mmm. Couple too-tree sounds good to me. I’ve got vanilla and tart cherry porters at home and those are sounding good right now. Leaving for home very soon. Walking through several blocks of snow myself!
I’ll just throw my hat in the ring and say thank the Lord nothing tragic happened.
I know I would have done the same thing, but it’s worth it to say it was brave and wonderful of you to jump back into the fire (so to speak) to save your poor puppy! Glad the whole house is doing ok
You both are so lucky. A few years ago some dogs in Toronto were killed by stray voltage in the ground. If I were you I’d be contacting the local media as well.
Aw, thanks. The puppy part–I don’t even remember if I just pulled him up by his leash, his collar, or picked him up–it happened so quickly. He was writhing for a good three or four seconds and going batshit crazy after pulling him out, though, and that really worried me. He seems 100% back to normal this morning.
Yeah, when I googled it when I came home, I saw there were a bunch of dogs and even people killed from this sort of thing. I had no idea it was such a known problem.
:dubious: 