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Nicole Gonzales reportingA vehicle ran into a power pole around midnight. The accident knocked out power to about 2,300 customers near Rice-Eccles Stadium. About 128 Rocky Mountain Power customers had to wait until noon for the power to return.
Margaret Oler, with Rocky Mountain Power, says, "Any power outage is inconvenient to our customers, and we don't want power out to our customers at any time."
An area that was mainly affected is the Friendship Manor, a senior and disabled living community near 1300 East and 500 South. About 180 residents live at the center, and the manager says they're all doing fine. Since this is not an assisted-living facility, no one is in need of emergency medical care. The center's generators provided power until about 6 a.m. Now workers are checking on the residents often and providing them with hot meals from a take-out restaurant.
Oler says people should be prepared for this sort of emergency. She says, "That's why we do recommend that all customers have an emergency plan, an emergency kit available to them. Whatever their individual circumstances are, we encourage everyone to prepare for the possibility of a power outage."
And university police reported that this accident was caused by someone who was just going too fast for the conditions. The driver crashed into two power poles along 500 South and the poles snapped.
