There was chaos on Queen Street in Port-of-Spain yesterday afternoon when a truck got tangled in overhead wires. Five utility poles came crashing down on drivers and pedestrians. Despite the extensive damage, which eyewitnesses claimed was like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie, only one woman was injured. Around 4 pm truck driver Christopher Chinwasa, of Tunapuna, was turning on to Chacon Street when the cement truck he was driving ripped down overhead wires from a utility pole. Chinwasa told police he did not realise his truck had hooked on to the wires. He drove a few metres before pedestrians began screaming at him.
Within moments, other concrete poles on Queen Street connected to the same cables collapsed across the road, with some landing on four passing vehicles. Three of the drivers escaped injury but the fourth, 29-year-old Kathy-Ann Charles, suffered slight neck injury. Before she was taken to hospital on a stretcher, Charles spoke to a news team from the T&T Guardian, describing the incident as unbelievable. “I still can’t believe how that truck managed to pull down all those electricity poles,” Charles said. Fire officers arrived soon afterwards and managed to clear the area to allow emergency workers from the T&T Electricity Commission (T&TEC) to get to the fallen poles and wires.
Electricity to several businesses and offices in the surrounding streets was cut for several hours after the incident. First responders to the scene said electricity would be restored late last night. Many pedestrians who saw it happen said they were in disbelief. “I thought the pole would have definitely fall on me. It fell less than one metre away from where I was walking,” one woman said. Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) president Gregory Aboud was on the scene minutes after the accident and said utility poles in Port-of-Spain needed to be maintained. “A lot of the lines are sagging, a lot of the poles are leaning. You can look and see...It is really just basic maintenance,” Aboud said. Aboud complained about the slow response of the police. “I’m sorry to say this, but it is utterly remarkable that we have been here trying to cope with the public, and there are no police officers on the scene,” he said. Chinwasa was being interviewed by police up to late yesterday evening.
T&TEC responds
Responding to the incident yesterday, T&TEC said engineers and field crews from the commission were working with the Fire Services to make Queen Street safe, in the aftermath of the accident. The commission said fortunately members of the public were protected from electric shock, as the fuses protecting the low voltage lines successfully isolated from the fallen wires.
T&TEC estimated that up to 10 customers, on Queen Street, between Abercromby and Pembroke Street, lost their supply of electricity as a result of the accident.