Distracted driver knocks out power to more than 7,000 PUD customers Tuesday

By Dan Hammock Grays Harbor News Group • February 6, 2019 6:00 pm
COURTESY WASHINGTON STATE PATROL A power pole and tree were taken out by an SUV on eastbound Highway 12 in Central Park Tuesday afternoon, knocking out power to more than 7,000 PUD customers from Aberdeen to Montesano.
COURTESY WASHINGTON STATE PATROL A power pole and tree were taken out by an SUV on eastbound Highway 12 in Central Park Tuesday afternoon, knocking out power to more than 7,000 PUD customers from Aberdeen to Montesano.

An SUV veered off Highway 12 in Central Park on Tuesday afternoon, shearing off a power pole and leading to the loss of power to more than 7,000 PUD customers.

According to a statement from the Washington State Patrol, a 62-year-old Aberdeen man was heading eastbound just before 4 p.m. at Pioneer Road when he “took his eyes off the road” and his 1999 Chevrolet Suburban left the roadway to the right, hitting a guard rail and knocking out the power pole. The vehicle continued about another 80 yards before coming to rest against a tree at the bottom of an embankment.

The driver was uninjured. However, according to the report, two passengers, a 58-year-old Ocean Shores man and a 27-year-old Aberdeen woman, were taken by aid car to Grays Harbor Community Hospital. The extent of their injuries and current conditions were not reported in the State Patrol statement.

The State Patrol is listing the cause of the crash “distracted driving” and the driver faces charges of second-degree negligent driving.

Power outage

The accident caused power outages stretching from North Aberdeen and the Wishkah Valley to Central Park and Montesano, affecting more than 7,000 customers, according to Grays Harbor PUD. Most customers had power restored relatively quickly, and all but those directly on the circuit where the pole was taken down were up and running by shortly after 5 p.m.

The immediate area of the downed pole, which included the area from Hirschbeck Heights down Olympic Highway to Baila Dip, had several homes with meter issues caused by “overvoltage when the transmission line went down,” according to the PUD. The majority of that immediate area had power by 5 a.m.

The damage to meters is rare and occurred in this case because a 115-kilovolt – 115,000 volt — transmission line came into contact with a distribution line, said PUD spokesman Ian Cope.

“The transmission line is taking power from Bonneville (Power Administration) to substations, where the power level is reduced and sent to homes,” said Cope. “So when that came into contact with a distribution line it sent that (the electricity) into homes before it went through the substation.”

There are regulations about the distance between distribution and transmission lines to prevent such an occurrence, said Cope.

“It’s rare. This was something that does not happen very often,” he said of the damage to individual meters. “But that is the kind of thing that is going to happen when you get that kind of of incident.”

The PUD said Wednesday afternoon the number of impacted meters totaled 190.

“Crews are continuing to respond to customers this afternoon,” said Cope.

The rare occurrence is also why the outage was so widespread.

“An event of that size has ripple effects throughout the surrounding system,” said Cope.

However, because of the way the system is built, most residents had their power back in about an hour.

“Due to redundancies built into our system, crews were able to make switches and quickly restore all but the immediate areas fairly quickly,” said Cope.

At least one resident in the area said on social media Wednesday that some appliances were damaged during the power surge. According to Cope, because of the cause of the incident, the PUD is not liable for those damages.

“It is a result of (the crash),” said Cope, “so that is something that will have to be pursued through the driver’s insurance company or possibly with homeowners insurance.” If damage to electronics was caused by the power surge, which was caused by the crash, Cope recommends checking with your homeowners’ insurance provider to see if you are covered.

COURTESY WASHINGTON STATE PATROL An SUV hit a guardrail and sheared off a power pole on eastbound Highway 12 near Pioneer Road in Central Park Tuesday afternoon before coming to a rest against a tree some 80 yards off the road. More than 7,000 PUD customers lost power as a result.

COURTESY WASHINGTON STATE PATROL An SUV hit a guardrail and sheared off a power pole on eastbound Highway 12 near Pioneer Road in Central Park Tuesday afternoon before coming to a rest against a tree some 80 yards off the road. More than 7,000 PUD customers lost power as a result.

COURTESY WASHINGTON STATE PATROL A power pole and tree were taken out by an SUV on eastbound Highway 12 in Central Park Tuesday afternoon, knocking out power to more than 7,000 PUD customers from Aberdeen to Montesano.

COURTESY WASHINGTON STATE PATROL A power pole and tree were taken out by an SUV on eastbound Highway 12 in Central Park Tuesday afternoon, knocking out power to more than 7,000 PUD customers from Aberdeen to Montesano.

Distracted driver knocks out power to more than 7,000 PUD customers Tuesday

COURTESY WASHINGTON STATE PATROL A power pole and tree were taken out by an SUV on eastbound Highway 12 in Central Park Tuesday afternoon, knocking out power to more than 7,000 PUD customers from Aberdeen to Montesano.