Car snags power pole guy wires and flips near Vernon

VERNON – A car hit the guy wires on a Hydro pole on the north end of Westside Road near Vernon, flipping the vehicle and knocking out power in the area today.

The crash happened just around 10:50 a.m., Oct. 25, on Westside Road about a kilometre south of Highway 97, on Okanagan Indian Band land.

Vernon Fire Capt. Reinhard Mann says the car got entangled with some power pole guy wires, flipping the vehicle and tearing down two poles.

“The driver wasn’t injured too bad,” Mann says.

B.C. Ambulance paramedics checked out the 19-year-old driver, who was the lone occupant, and he wasn’t transported to hospital.

B.C. Hydro say about 1,400 customers lost electricity due to the crash.

Mann says Westside Road is closed, but traffic is getting through in both directions via a detour on Head of the Lake Road. Firefighters from the North Westside Fire Department are providing traffic control.

The road was closed until Hydro crews finish the repairs, which was shortly after 3 p.m.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

— This story was updated at 6:38 a.m, Oct. 26, 2015, with additional details from RCMP and to correct the date.