Rochester, Washington, looking west from the center of down-town. Rochester, Washington, looking east from the center of down-town. NOTE: This website is undergoing many changes - its size has gotten way too large to easily manage. If you encounter a link that no longer works it may be that I have accidentally removed the page/picture the link points to.
Without seeing the extent of the damage, it's impossible to say if the damage might cause a short/start a fire, or pose a shock hazard, or both; you could be seriously injured or killed. There are suggestions to tape the wire with electrical tape. This can be done, but be extremely careful.
So when there is separate wires for neutral and ground, a singe wire fault (cut or short circuit to other wire) on any wire going to outlet does not cause immediate danger to the user of the equipment: Live shorted to ground or neutral: fuse blows immediatly. When fuse is blown then the dangers of electricity are gone.