Power poles topple under force of wind-fallen tree, causing outage in Modesto

At least 11 power poles toppled over in central Modesto on Thursday afternoon, causing a power outage to customers, including Memorial Medical Center.

The poles along the west side of Coffee Road between Celeste Drive and Floyd Avenue either snapped or came crashing down at about 2:45 p.m. after a big wind knocked over a tree that fell on power lines just south of Athens Avenue.

The weight and force of the tree on the small stretch lines created a domino effect. Most poles fell toward the street although one crashed through the roof of a business. The incident created a surreal scene, one probably similar to the aftermath of a tornado.

At a time when Coffee Road would normally be busy, the street was empty with the exception of Modesto Irrigation District workers, firefighters, police and curious onlookers. Wires and poles sat along the southbound lanes.

“The poles laying in the middle of the street ... I thought it was like Armageddon,” said Kent Salisbury, who was working in an apartment on Coffee Road’s east side when he heard the commotion.

One vehicle heading south on Coffee swerved, and ended up hitting a pole before going into the northbound lanes lightly hitting another vehicle.

There were no reports of injury to the driver, who for fear of the live electrical wires stayed in the vehicle before firefighters deemed it safe for him to exit.

There were no reports of injury to anyone on the street.

According to MID spokeswoman Melissa Williams, several crews are on scene assessing the situation.

“Once it’s safe to do so, we try to reroute power along our system,” she said.

Memorial Medical Center lost power briefly before backup generators kicked in, said Catherine Larsen, spokeswoman for the hospital.

“We are on diversion,” she said at 3:15 p.m. While on diversion, the hospital doesn’t accept ambulance traffic, traumas or transfers.

“But if someone walks into our emergency department, we will still treat them,” Larsen said.

Salisbury said moments before the poles came down, a hard wind came through.

“We didn’t know what was going on,” he said. “Maybe a little tornado. It was definitely a big wind.”

Coffee was closed between Norwegian Avenue and Rumble Road.

A few blocks away on Celeste, a tree was uprooted and fell just south of Vera Cruz Drive, blocking Celeste to traffic.

This story was originally published December 24, 2015 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Power poles topple under force of wind-fallen tree, causing outage in Modesto."