POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Power has been restored after a semi truck ran into a power pole, leading to a loss of electricity for residents in a Pompano Beach neighborhood.
The incident occurred in the area near the 2800 block of Northeast 18th Street at around 4:30 a.m., Thursday.
According to Pompano Beach Police, the driver of the semi truck supposedly punched in the wrong address on his GPS and ended up driving through a neighborhood with narrow streets, which resulted in the truck knocking down the power lines.
Florida Power and Light said that the knockdown of three power poles left 42 homes without electricity. They restored power to those homes late Thursday evening.
No injuries were reported.
7News cameras showed the extent of the damage the downed power lines caused, with palm trees toppling vehicles and wires sprawled across driveways and lawns.
Residents spoke about the mess they woke up to.
“I was woken up from the power outage,” resident Ryan Tueton said, “but it wasn’t until a couple minutes later where I guess what I heard was power lines scraping across the roof, but it sounded like thunder or a tornado, and I didn’t really know the extent of the damage until I walked outside and saw the police outside.”
“I just heard like a big whistling sound coming down the street,” resident Asif Islam said. “It was like coming louder, louder, louder, and I’m like, ‘Eh, it’s a small tornado. It’s nothing, it’s Florida.’ I woke up and heard a loud bang, like a loud electricity bang. I woke up and then saw the backyard that was completely, like, power lines on the floor, cable outside the front, power line missing, and then, when the cops came, the cops said, ‘Yeah, it was a semi truck from Whole Foods distribution center that came in and wrecked this whole thing.’ It completely destroyed our shed, just like a pancake.”
Surveillance video from one of the residents’ homes showed the semi turning into a dead end and backing out of the road, which caused him to knock down three power poles and drag power across houses and yards by the time the driver stopped.
“I just don’t know how somebody could’ve driven a truck carrying light poles and palm trees three blocks,” Tueton said.
“Lindsay and I walked down here and saw all the powerlines down and the truck on the next street with the power poles stuck in it,” said Kim Lardani, a resident.
“He said he was on his way to Whole Foods distribution, but later on we found out that he inadvertently put in his GPS Northeast 19th Street, so it was supposed to be Northwest,” an officer said.
According to police, the driver received two citations for careless driving and failure to complete a driver’s vehicle inspection report.
Neighbors said that at one point, he knocked on residents’ doors and apologized for the damage he caused to their properties.
Crews are working to restore power to the homes affected.
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