Single car accident snaps power pole and takes down powerlines on 116

Traffic tie-up on 116 at Covert Lane

Southbound traffic on Highway 116 at Covert Lane, near Pacific Market, is being diverted onto side streets due to a single-car accident that cracked a powerline in two, pinned several wires, and closed the southbound lane. The northbound lane of 116 is still open as of this posting. PG&E has just arrived on the scene. Sebastopol Police say that no one was hurt in the accident.

PG&E Communications person Megan McFarland wrote the Sebastopol Times that “PG&E is on site in Sebastopol where a third-party vehicle contacted one of our poles and knocked out power to 5,032 customers. The outage occurred at 7:50 am, and we are currently making sure the area is safe and making assessments. We are looking at ways to move the impacted customers to a different circuit while we make repairs.”

Power was fully restored throughout the town by the end of the day.

Photo by Michelle Kelly