Truck mishap causes chain reaction
About four accidents occurred within an hour and an half of each other, due to the power pole that was knocked down Thursday morning, confirmed Detective Larry Kinne of the McCook Police Department.
Kinne reported that when a semi tractor trailer struck a power pole in the area of West Ninth and B at about 11 a.m., a gas meter and a power meter were pulled out from a building that houses Coyote County radio station, at 106 W. Eighth. A police vehicle responding to that incident struck a motorcyle, with that accident handled by the Nebraska State Patrol.
Within the next few minutes, in the two-block radius of where the power line came down, two more vehicle accidents occurred, Kinne said. One came about when a vehicle pulled out from the parking lot at Casey's General Store at 704 West B and struck another vehicle on B Street and another accident that is still being investigated, Kinne said.
The first collision cause the power to automatically lock out a breaker at the sub station, said Brian Burh of Nebraska Public Power District, with 385 customers without electricity for about 40 minutes.
Another 14 customers were without power until 8:30 p.m., he said, so crews could set new power poles, transformers and wire in the area.
Fire Chief Marc Harpham said the area around the accident was isolated to keep people from entering the area. When one power line goes down, it causes stress on other power lines, he said, and so it was imperative to keep the area safe.
Buhr said the important thing is that no one was harmed.
"It was an unfortunate incident for the truck driver but the bottom line is that no got hurt in the situation," he said. Buhr also commended the McCook City Fire Department and Police for their swift response to the incident.
"The police were down there barricading the scene along with the Fire Department," he said. "They always do an excellent job in this type of situation and helped immensely."