A delivery truck caused a two-hour power outage in Pipestone the morning of Thursday, Nov. 5 just before 8 a.m.
Jim Clark, principal manager for Xcel Energy in Sioux Falls, said the outage, which affected 546 customers, occurred at 7:57 a.m.; power was restored by 9:59 a.m. During that time, businesses and homes along Hwy. 75 and Hwy. 23 and south of Hwy. 30 to the east were without power, as were the stoplights at the intersection of Hwy. 75 and Hwy. 30.
A temporary stop sign was put in place to control traffic until power returned.
The U.S. Foodservice truck, driven by Ryan Beck of Sioux Falls, was leaving the Subway parking lot after a delivery when its trailer snagged an overhead power line.
“It was a low hanging line because the truck was not over height,” said Pipestone County Sheriff Dan Delaney.
Truck driver Beck, and Marty Wallin, owner of the Pipestone Subway, both said the delivery trucks had been parking in that area for the past 15 years and had never had any problems with the power lines.
“The lines must have sagged or something,” Beck said.
Beck said he was pulling out of the lot when he realized he was caught in the line.
“Luckily I stopped,” he said. “I heard the pole start popping.”
The pole did not immediately snap, but was leaning. Beck and Wallin called Xcel Energy and a crew arrived shortly to assess the situation.
Beck, Wallin and the Xcel Energy employees were standing in the parking lot about 30 minutes later when the pole collapsed taking a second pole to the south with it and causing two more to lean. One of the poles that fell struck Wallin’s 2002 Chevy Avalanche, breaking the passenger side window and causing other damage to the vehicle.
“We were all standing out there and the pole was just bent a little bit, then all of a sudden it just came crashing down,” Wallin said.
“We were just running to get the hell out of the way,” Beck said.
One of the poles held a feeder, which carried power from a substation out into the nearby neighborhoods, Clark said. That’s why such a large number of customers were affected.
No one was injured by the fallen poles or power lines and power was restored everywhere but Subway by 10 a.m.
“We’re quite pleased with Xcel Energy’s response and how quick they were in getting the power back up,” Delaney said.
Clark said Xcel Energy would be conducting a follow-up investigation, as is typical when power outages occur.
Delaney said it is important that people remember to always assume that downed power lines are live and stay away from them.
“We were very fortunate that no one was hurt with this incident,” he said. “Fortunately, the poles fell away from the highway and did not strike any moving vehicles.”
Xcel Energy had workers on the scene for most of the day and had new poles were in place by late Thursday afternoon.
