A blue Chevrolet pickup truck smashed into a power pole on Hwy16 near the Sande Overpass, causing a highway closure and power outage on Saturday, Aug. 19.
The male driver, the only occupant of the vehicle, was rushed to hospital and treated for non life-threatening injuries.
Police say the cause of the accident was medical related.
The crash happened at 3:48 p.m., when the pickup drove into the power pole, snapping it off at the base and leaving it hanging from the wires.
“The power lines were probably sagging as well, and if a semi would have went by, it would have clipped those power lines, so the highway was shut down in both directions,” said an RCMP watch commander.
RCMP closed the highway and traffic was re-routed for upwards of three hours, with BC Hydro called in to deal with the pole.
Power was out for a number of hours in parts of Terrace, including at the hospital where generators kicked in to keep things going.
BC Hydro documents on their site that the outage was from south of West Kalum Road, north of Old Remo Road and west of Hwy 16, between 3:52 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19 and 5:42 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 20.
Media relations officer Dave Mosure said it was only The Brick and New Floors that were out of power until Sunday evening, because of the type of power circuit they are on.
But all the other homes and stores had power restored within a few hours on Saturday evening.