"Increased internet traffic" and "Network impacting event"

In another thread someone posted a message they received with more detail, about damage to the central node for the city. The explanation makes sense, but for me just highlights the absurdity of the level 1 support scripts they give to the poor call center people.

when I was in grad school in Michigan the power company would be like “sorry a squirrel chewed through a substation line  to try to get warm so don’t expect power before tomorrow” and very weirdly that was almost MORE reassuring simply because it had more information. For me, anyway, I don’t know if everyone works that way.