A squirrel played pranks with 47,000 rail commuters in Manhattan.
Due to a squirrel climbed onto the Metro-North Commuter Railroad power lines, the power was lost on Monday afternoon mass transit commute in Manhattan. The electrical power surge and weakened an overhead bracket. That caused a wire from the overhead bracket dangled down and got absorbed in a train passing underneath, and ended up tearing down all the lines. Commuters waited for hours but trains were not running that they couldn’t get out of Manhattan. In addition, according to Metro-North spokeswoman Donna Evans, the squirrel was electrocuted while frisking on the power lines.
Service was restored by crews by Tuesday morning.
Pretty good lead, but you run into some problems with clarity in P2. How about:
A squirrel climbing on the Metro-North Commuter Railroad power lines caused a power outage Monday afternoon that brought the evening commute out of Manhattan to a halt.
(Then explain how it happened)
The outage occurred after an electrical power surge and weakened an overhead bracket, causing a wire to dangle down where it could be snagged by a passsing train, tearing down all the power lines.
Commuters waited for hours but the trains that could not run. They had to find alternate ways home.
Service was restored by crews by Tuesday morning.