ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – An eyewitness told KTTC a car crashed into an electric pole in southwest Rochester, causing a widespread power outage Sunday. According to Alejandro Sosa, this happened around 3:30 p.m.
“I just hear tires like screech like crazy,” he said. “I looked over to my right because that’s where the road was, to my right, and I could just see a green Rivian. I just see it ram into the electricity pole.”
Sosa is a resident of Plainview, but he runs a car-detailing business called Sosa’s Spa and was in southwest Rochester at the time. He told KTTC he had just finished detailing a car near Mayowood Road SW when he saw the green Rivian swerve to avoid a head-on crash with an oncoming car and ended up hitting a power pole.
“The electricity looked like a whole movie,” Sosa said. “It was blue everywhere. I don’t even know how to explain it. I was shocked. I ended up calling 911 and everyone came outside as soon as they heard a loud bang.”
Sosa stated the two people inside the Rivian did not appear to be injured. He said the incident caused a power outage in the nearby area. Rochester Public Utilities’ outage map confirmed power has been restored.
KTTC reached out to Rochester Police Department and Rochester Public Utilities regarding the incident. This story will be updated with the latest information as it becomes available.
According to Rochester Public Utilities (RPU), more than 200 customers are without power in southwest Rochester.
RPU says the outage began around 2:23 p.m. on Sunday and more than 1,200 customers were initially affected. However, that number is down to 238 as of 4:50 p.m., and at least one crew is working to restore power to those remaining customers.
It is unclear at this time when those customers will have power restored, though RPU initially believed all power would have been restored by 4:23 p.m.
More information about this outage can be found here.
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