Electricity restored to hundreds after wreck causes 11-hour outage

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 8, 2019

PORT ANGELES — Power was restored by 2:43 p.m. Wednesday to the last of 600 households that were without electricity for more than 11 hours west of Port Angeles, a Clallam County Public Utility District spokeswoman said.

The outage was at the Tumwater Truck Route at the entrance to U.S. Highway 101, spokeswoman Nicole Clark said.

The truck route — state Highway 117 — was closed in both directions from Milepost 0.0 at state Highway 101 to Milepost 0.3 near West Lauridsen Boulevard from 8:25 a.m. to 12:04 p.m.

An adult male driver who smashed his Buick Rendezvous SUV into a wooden transmission pole at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Fairmount Avenue area remained at large at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, Port Angeles police Cpl. Sky Sexton said.

The same vehicle was involved in a non-felony hit-and-run but it was unknown who was driving the vehicle, Sexton said.

PUD spokesman Nicole Clark said the cost of the pole alone could be $15,000 to $20,000.

The driver will be assessed the cost of the damaged pole and equipment as well as labor, Clark said.

The total liability probably won’t be determined for a few weeks, she added.

“It was a pretty good-size pole,” Clark said.

Power was rerouted to about 125 homes at 6:30 a.m. and the remainder by 2:43 p.m., she said.

The wreck occurred east of Fairmount Avenue at the truck route, taking the airport substation offline in west Port Angeles, she said.

The outage was on, and connected to, Black Diamond, Little River, Benson and South Bean roads.

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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.