Taylor suffered a large power outage in the late hours of Independence Day.
On July 4, residents in central and north Taylor were without electricity from shortly after sunset into the early morning hours of July 5. The outages, which turned off lights in homes and streets, coincided shortly after the start of a city fireworks display at Murphy Park to celebrate the Fourth of July.
"The Taylor Police Department reports that at 9:16 p.m. on Monday evening, when the city fireworks display began, the egrets began flying quickly away from the city park and struck four power transformers," said Taylor's municipal government in a statement, "which caused a power outage from Fourth Street to Circleville."
Oncor, the transmission and distribution electric utility that serves the Taylor area, was notified of the outages. The company reportedly restored most power by approximately 1 a.m.
"We do not know at this time the number of egrets involved or if they survived the encounter," said city staff.
Egrets have been known to nest at the island on the city lake adjacent to Murphy Park. As reported in the East Wilco Insider, egrets were discovered in Taylor as early as 2008 and have had a storied history since then.
This is a developing story. More information as it develops or in a future edition of the Taylor Press.
