A squirrel got an 11,000 volt shock and blacked out 600 homes when it took a short cut along a power cable.

The body of the unlucky animal was found by engineers after homes in the Hullbridge area lost electricity at 6.52am today.

His unfortunate journey damaged insulator cable near Lubbards Lodge Farm on the Hullbridge Road at Rayleigh.

Les Hart, duty shift manager for power company 24Seven, said: "The majority of homes were switched back on within an hour.

"Power to the rest was restored later in the morning."

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