A driver crashed into a utility pole early Friday morning on Lake Road causing a power outage at University House and Aberdeen Place apartments and a cleanup of chemicals that spilled onto the road, police said.
Police reports stated that Casondra Vanderweyst, 21, was arrested and charged with DWI in the incident.
Police said Vanderweyst allegedly pulled out of University House when she lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a utility pole with transformers causing two other utility poles to go down in a domino effect.
University House and Aberdeen Place apartment residents reported loss of electricity.
Residents woke up around 3:45 a.m. to a loud explosion and saw their alarm clocks and other electronic equipment turned off.
HEB and other businesses on Lake Road were without power all morning. Entergy brought help from Conroe and other cities in order to restore power.
An Entergy worker estimated the damages at $100,000 in labor costs.
Huntsville Police and SET Environmental shut down Lake Road to clean up any possible hazardous material that may have spilled from the transformer.
Inglehart said the transformer did not contain toxic agents as modern transformers are filled with mineral oil, but a SET employee at the scene said they were neutralizing hazardous chemicals spilled by the transformer.
Entergy employee Dan Inglehart said that the driver could have been seriously injured by electrocution.
“She was lucky somebody pulled her out right away,” Inglehart said. “The cable [that was a couple of inches away from the car] was still hot.”
Huntsville Finance, Fire and Police departments did not have damage estimates at the time of the report.
SET Environmental would not comment.