By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
More than 150 residents and businesses along Main Street were without electricity, some for more than three hours, last Wednesday, May 24, when a pickup truck left the city’s busiest thoroughfare and plowed into a utility pole at the intersection of South Main and Horner streets.
Traffic lights on Main, Trammell and East Nashville also went dark when the crash, which broke the power pole in front of First Baptist Church’s Patterson Chapel in two, occurred around 5:10 a.m. City police officers manned several intersections, and South Main was closed to traffic from Horner to Craig Street for more than two hours.
Atmore Police Department reports were unavailable, and the name of the driver and cause of the crash remained unknown by Tuesday’s press deadline. A police officer at the scene said he “didn’t think anybody was hurt” in the crash.
The power outage affected homes and businesses on Main, Craig, Trammell and numerous other streets, as well as Pensacola Avenue and beyond.
According to Alabama Power Co. spokesperson Beth Thomas, “about 160” of the utility’s local customers were affected by the outage. Thomas said power was restored to most of them within 20 minutes, and to all of them before 8:30 a.m.
She explained that APCO crews had to shut off power to some homes and businesses in order to replace the splintered pole.
“Service was interrupted following a vehicle accident that resulted in a broken pole,” Thomas said. “Alabama Power deenergized some of the lines in order for the crew to safely make needed repairs. Service was restored to 90 customers at about 5:30. The remaining 70 customers were restored at about 8:20.”