[UPDATE 8:12 p.m.] Vehicle Destroys Telephone Pole on Henderson and H Streets
A white Kia Forte struck a pole on Henderson and H Streets in Eureka about 6:50 p.m. Henderson is blocked at I Street. Lines are down.
“The bottom of the pole is destroyed,” says our reporter on the scene Oliver Cory. “[The accident] took out a stoplight, too.”
Avoid the area if possible.
UPDATE 7:05 p.m.: More photos of the scene from Cory. Electricity is out to about 20 customers, according to PG&E.
UPDATE 7:10 p.m.: According to scanner traffic, H & Henderson will be closed for six to twelve hours. PG&E will be doing a major repair with possible loss of power to other parts of the city.
UPDATE 7:13 p.m.: Holy smokes! Take a look at that photo below. A man at the scene tells a child, “The telephone pole lost its legs.”
UPDATE 7:30 p.m.: Battalion Chief with Humboldt Bay Fire Chris Jelinek told Oliver Cory that the driver was not injured. The vehicle has major front end damage. But most importantly this major intersection may be closed all night. So…plan your drives carefully.
UPDATE 7:37 p.m.: Contrary to other reports, the driver did not flee from the scene, according to Officer Corrie Watson of the Eureka Police Department.
Also, H Street is closed at Hayes Street.
Update 8:12 p.m.: According to Officer Watson, the driver of the vehicle said he was avoiding an animal when he crashed.
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h.o.l.y. sheet! that’s amazing. how do you flip a car when you’re tooling around town? https://kymkemp.com/2016/01/02/woman-trapped-in-accident-on-west-street-in-eureka/
or take the “legs” off that huge pole? that the driver walked away is more amazing! i’m think i’ll just duck and cover all night, people are driving like bad-asses tonight it seems.
any more wrecks like these and i’m gonna go hop in bed and hide under the blankets.
That’s where H, a one-way, is just a block from where Henderson goes from one-way to two-way. I am guessing some kind of confusion around those one-ways led to hitting a pole that hard and fast. I almost got nailed on Henderson a couple of times last week–once myself in the wrong lane, once when two cars came at me in the wrong lane. I believe signage is inadequate.
OK i just read that the driver was avoiding a raccoon. So one-way had nothing to do with it. Still.
The guy said he skidded on ice. Maybe he had been drinking?
[…] There was a similar accident in Eureka on Saturday night that broke a power […]