UPDATE
LAFAYETTE PARISH, La. — A dump truck working on a state road project caused a major power outage Monday morning after pulling down power lines connected to three utility poles on Osage Trail Road.
Business owner Mike Faul said he was going about his normal morning when he suddenly saw the poles come down.
“The first thing I saw was the poles going down, then the loud… very loud noise,” Faul said. “I heard the loud bang.”
According to SLEMCO Communications Coordinator Mary Laurent, road construction on Osage Road in Lafayette Parish caused an extensive power outage for more than 2,000 SLEMCO customers.
“Road construction on Osage Road in Lafayette Parish today caused an extensive power outage for over 2,000 SLEMCO customers, when a dump truck pulled down a power line as it was depositing asphalt on the road,” Laurent said. “Three poles were broken in the process that had to be replaced.”
Faul owns and operates Laser Leveling, a dirt work business, and also works for Expro, an oilfield-based company. He said having electricity is important to keeping his business running.
“I own Laser Leveling, does a lot of dirt work, and I also work for Expro,” Faul said. “It was just a freak accident, and no one got hurt. Within 20 minutes, SLEMCO was there… They started to restore our power already.”
Faul said he has been in business for more than 20 years and relies on power to do his work.
“I need to make money, so I need the electricity back to make money,” Faul said.
Despite the outage and the damage left behind, Faul said he is grateful no one was injured and thankful crews responded quickly. He also said he is choosing to look at the bigger picture, saying the road repairs have been needed for a long time.
“We thank the state for fixing our road that needed to be fixed for so long,” Faul said. “We thank the contractors who came out here to fix our roads… now we’re going to have a new road.”
Once power is restored, Faul said he plans to get back to work.
“We thank again God for everything,” Faul said. “Nothing happened to no one.”
SLEMCO says crews replaced the broken poles and power was restored within hours.
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A dump truck working with road construction crews pulled down several spans of power lines Monday, leaving 2,125 SLEMCO customers without power, according to the utility's Facebook page.
The incident broke three poles in the Cankton, Church Point and west Carencro area.
Servicemen are on scene removing hardware from the broken poles. Overhead crews are on their way with new poles, according to SLEMCO.
SLEMCO said it will backfeed as many customers as possible while repairs are being made.
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