Published: June 09, 2009 03:29 pm      

Accident causes power outage

Residents living in an eastern portion of Gainesville found themselves in the dark Sunday night after a hit and run driver plowed into a telephone guide wire on East Highway 82, snapping the cable and sending it into a set of bundled electric wires.

Gainesville Police spokesman Belva McClinton said the driver first struck a gas meter in the 2000 block of East U.S. Highway 82.

“The driver left the scene,” she noted. “Then he called back later and identified himself.”

McClinton said police cannot say if alcohol played a role in the incident.

“This was a young driver who may have just panicked and fled the scene,” she added.

Oncor Electric Delivery spokesman Sabrina Taylor said the collision caused a number of events which resulted in darkness for part of Gainesville.

“The foreign object caused the sparks many people saw. It then locked out the protective devices which are the line fuses. The fuses are like the fuses in your house. They stay out until we take care of the problem. Then your electricity comes back on,” she said.

The outage began where the accident occurred along Aspen Street and continued up and down several blocks of East Highway 82.

Oncor crews restored service about an hour and half after the incident began, Taylor noted.

Individuals shopping at Wal-Mart Supercenter were surprised when the giant store suddenly went dark.

“The lights flickered, came back on for a second and then went off. It was a little spooky. It was just pitch black in the parking lot. The only light you could see was the flasher on the security guard’s truck,” said Gainesville resident Vickie Dillon who was inside the store’s Subway restaurant when the black-out occurred.