Some businesses on Irving Boulevard were left without power after a semi-truck dragged down power lines on Tuesday morning, shutting down traffic for hours.
Business owners told NBC 5 the situation has left them frustrated.
At his Irving hardware store Bumper to Bumper, Billy Ivey was working around 10:30 Tuesday morning when his day took a turn.
“We heard it and then all the lines were all of a sudden down in the parking lot, and the lights went out,” said Ivey.
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Rushing outside, business owners on the block near 620 East Irving Boulevard saw a chaotic scene: a semi-truck trying to turn onto the street had been caught on power lines, dragging the lines behind it and snapping a utility pole in its wake.
“It looked like a disaster,” said Ivey. “Just wires everywhere, and power’s out, and a guy stuck in his car because there was a power line on it.”
Irving police quickly closed the road, and Oncor crews soon arrived to begin clearing the damage and restore power.
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The affected stretch of Irving Boulevard was closed until around 4 PM Tuesday, impacting rush hour traffic – and increasing frustrations for businesses.
“There is no light at all here, and there is no work because there is no light,” said Arturo Reynoso, owner of Rios Used Tires.
Reynoso told us without power, none of the stores on the block were able to take customers on Tuesday.
Business owners said they’d been told to expect power to be restored by tomorrow, hopefully putting an end to the biggest disruption Ivey had seen on this block in 30 years.
“Nothing this big in a long time,” Ivey said.
NBC 5 reached out to Oncor on Tuesday night to ask for an updated timeline on when power will be restored following the incident.
The company said more than 120 homes and businesses lost service in the incident, and by 8:30 PM around 60 customers remained offline, with ONCOR hoping to restore their power by 10 PM.
