A section of Montvale Avenue in Stoneham, Massachusetts, remained closed on Thursday afternoon, more than 24 hours after seven utility poles and power lines came down on Wednesday.
Crews have been working through the night to repair the poles and the mess that was left behind. Police said they expected Montvale Avenue to be closed for the majority of the day Thursday, after a truck clipped the power line Wednesday. There were hundreds of power outages during the immediate aftermath of the crash.
Police said Thursday that there will be no charges against the driver - the truck hit a low-hanging wire, which set off the crash.
The road is expected to reopen by Friday morning.
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Eversource said Thursday morning that it was able to connect its customer base to temporary generator power by Wednesday evening, due to how bad the damage was. The power provider said it has been able to make significant progress overnight on repairs, and other companies were beginning repairs on their equipment.
When the repairs are done, customers will be switched off generator power.
Nick Washington, who lives nearby, said the power was on Wednesday night, but it wasn't steady.
"It was flickering a bit. I had some and then it went down. Same thing with the internet," he said.
New poles have been put up, police said Thursday morning, but the downed wires still needed to be attached, which was expected to take "an extended period of time."
Crash Takes Down Power Lines
On Wednesday morning, a tractor-trailer clipped a power line while driving by, bringing down the seven poles and wires. The power lines were in contact with several vehicles on the street, creating what was a potentially dangerous situation.
There were no injuries reported.
The incident resulted in Montvale Avenue near Woburn and Interstate 93 being closed down, and hundreds of power outages in the area.
More than two dozen people called 911 to report the downed power lines around 9:34 a.m., according to local officials.
Another chain reaction of the crash involved oil from a transformer spilling into the road and then a storm drain, which empties into Sweetwater Brook. The transformer crashed onto the ground following the crash, and the oil will need to be cleaned.
'It Was Very, Very Scary'
Nadia Vargas, who was trapped in her car, saw a truck clip a wire, bringing the poles down.
"It was a low hanging wire, for sure," she said. "I saw it snag."
She was right behind the truck and could see the wires start bringing down the utility poles, one after another.
"I could see the pole in front of me," she said. "I was like, 'If I don't get crushed by this pole in front of me, I'm going to get crushed behind me,' so it was very scary."
Vargas was able to dodge the falling poles, but wires ended up draped all over her car.
"It kind of settled on me that I had a near-death experience," she said.
She stayed put, not knowing if the wires were electrified. After about 20 minutes trapped in her car, she was pulled out by firefighters.
"You see power lines down from ice storms," said neighborhood resident James Baker. "I've never seen seven poles down in a row, it looked like a comet hit it or something."
