Traffic accident temporarily knocks out power on island
A single-car accident that occurred Tuesday, Jan. 22, near the American Legion left many islanders without power Tuesday.
LCEC Public Relations Manager Karen Ryan said 2,541 customers were impacted by the accident.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to 4106 Stringfellow Road in St. James City, near the American Legion, at 8:53 p.m. Tuesday.
According to the accident report supplied by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, a silver Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, which was driven by Brian Black, 31, was traveling south on Stringfellow Road when he suffered a medical emergency, possibly a seizure, near the Castile Road intersection.
The report indicated that the vehicle then veered off the roadway on the east side into the grassy shoulder and then continued southbound until the Silverado struck a power line in front of the American Legion on the east side.
The vehicle sustained approximately $15,000 in damage to the front, top and rear of the pick-up truck.
No injuries were reported.
LCEC reported to the scene.
Ryan said the outage occurred at 12:02 a.m. on Jan. 23 and power was restored when the area was cleared and made safe 39 minutes later at 12:41 a.m.
A temporary outage occurred again at 3:46 a.m., Ryan said, when the damaged poles were replaced. Seventeen minutes later, she said the power was restored at 4:03 a.m.
“We do not have a total for the damage costs for this incident yet,” Ryan said.