A raven calls out from its perch on a tree branch next to the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm south of Anchorage in 2017. (Bob Hallinen / ADN archive)

Crews were working to restore electricity to Girdwood after a raven knocked out power to the community Friday morning, Chugach Electric officials said.

Chugach Electric Association officials said online that the resort town south of Anchorage lost electricity at about 8 a.m. after a raven made contact with a transformer and triggered a cascade of damage to the utility’s infrastructure powering Girdwood.

Nearly 1,900 customers in Girdwood were without power as of 5 p.m. Friday, according to the utility.

Power was expected to be restored between 8 and 9 p.m., said Chugach Electric spokesperson Julie Hasquet.

The raven “made contact” with and damaged a current transformer and its control wiring, which led to further damage at the Girdwood substation control building, as well as the circuit switcher that powers the town, she said.

The damage, Hasquet said, was extensive.

The outage led Alyeska Resort to temporarily close its aerial tram Friday while warning in a social media post that “hotel amenities are operating at reduced capacity.”

Girdwood Fire and Rescue suggested in a Facebook post that travelers should fuel up before Girdwood because pumps at Girdwood’s gas station were also offline due to the outage.

Girdwood Brewing Co., however, said they remained open and that on-site food trucks were running on generators. The brewery’s bathrooms were “a little darker than usual” but the water was running and its drinks flowing, the brewery posted on Instagram.

While small wildlife such as birds and squirrels often make contact with the utility’s equipment, the damage they cause typically is less severe, doesn’t lead to widespread outages and can be quickly repaired, Hasquet said.

The raven in Friday’s incident was found dead by repair crews, she said.