Excavator snags power lines, topples poles in NE Redmond

A truck carrying an excavator snagged a power line and brought down several utility poles in northeast Redmond Monday afternoon, knocking out power to nearly 900 Pacific Power customers and closing a stretch of road.

The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. on Northeast Ninth Street north of Highway 126 and south of Antler Avenue, closing that stretch of road, officials said.

Pacific Power reported an outage affecting 868 customers in the area, but power was rerouted and back to all but 43 customers before 5 p.m., utility spokesman Tom Gauntt said. Gauntt said three utility poles were broken in the accident.

Among those reportedly affected were St. Charles Redmond, as the hospital went to emergency backup power but was among those restored by 5 p.m.

Redmond police Lt. Curtis Chambers said the power line fell onto the truck and the driver remained in his vehicle until utility crews escorted him safely from it. No injuries were reported.

Police said detours were being established but to avoid the area if possible. Complicating traffic issues in the area was the closure of nearby Evergreen Avenue for BNSF Railway crossing work moving through the area.

Gauntt said the 43 customers still out of power would take a while, possibly 9 p.m., since three poles are broken and wire down. Find Pacific Power’s Oregon outage map here.

We’ll have more details as they become available.