Huntsville addresses viral rumors regarding recent power outage: ‘Absolutely false’
“We need to be careful about making assumptions," councilwoman said.
Chloe Mitchell 
Huntsville City Council President Jennie Robinson is setting the record straight following a surge of viral misinformation regarding recent power outages across the southern portion of the city and the Bailey Cove area. Addressing the public during Thursday’s council meeting, Robinson firmly debunked social media rumors claiming that Huntsville Utilities had diverted electricity from residents to supply Meta’s local data center.
Setting the Record Straight
According to Robinson, the claims circulating online are entirely baseless. She clarified that Meta’s Huntsville facility operates independently of the local utility grid. "Meta’s data center in Huntsville, Alabama, does not receive electricity from Huntsville Utilities," Robinson stated. "It is served directly from the Tennessee Valley Authority, TVA. At no time was Huntsville Utilities diverting power away from customers anywhere in the service area."
The Real Causes Behind the Outages
With the conspiracy theories put to rest, Robinson detailed the actual triggers behind the recent service interruptions. The major outage in south Huntsville was traced to a large tree falling in the Weatherly area, which took down power lines, utility poles, and associated equipment. A separate morning outage impacting the Bailey Cove and Mountain Gap areas was attributed to power lines disconnecting from an insulator.
Reporting on outages in the Hillwood-Heritage Estates area, Robinson shared a detailed breakdown from Huntsville Utilities. The findings revealed that squirrels and equipment strain were the primary culprits:
- Six outages were reported, with four linked to squirrel interference and two potentially caused by transformer overloads.
- Three of those outages occurred at the same specific address, involving a combination of squirrel interference and transformer issues.
- Of the five "blinks" reported in the area, two were tied to squirrels, one was a TVA-related issue, and two were unrelated to the other outages.
As 205focus.com reported via the original source context, Robinson urged the community to rely on facts rather than speculation. "We need to be careful about making assumptions about the outages," she said. "Apparently, squirrels and trees are our greatest hazard with those."
