Power restored after Northeast Columbia crash leads to hundreds of outages

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

900 people in Columbia were without power following a crash on Vandiver Dr. around 4 p.m. Saturday.

An ABC 17 News reporter saw several businesses near the Intersection of Whitegate Drive and Paris Road without power. Street lights in the area were also not working.

According to Columbia Fire Department spokeswoman Katherine Rodriguez, crews responded to a vehicle collision on Vandiver and Nelwood Drive. An electric pole was knocked down, leading to widespread power outages, according to Columbia Utilities spokesman Matt Nestor.

Crews worked to assess the damage, and officials warned of larger outages as repairs continued.

Local businesses were heavily impacted. Abelardo's Mexican Fresh employee Jiovn Nino said he was frustrated, as the outages disrupted operations.

 "So, I don't know what happened with the lights. I'm on the restaurant. I got a lot of things, you know, the freezer and I don't know what happened," Nino said.

Nino said he drove around the area to confirm that his restaurant wasn’t the only one affected. He said he saw two gas stations and a grocery store also without power.

Other businesses were also caught off guard.

Nathan Hamell, an employee at Lee's Fried Chicken, described how the outage brought operations to a complete halt.

"It didn't flicker or anything. It just went out all of a sudden. So, it was coming back on at one point and then it would flicker back off," Hamell said.

The Columbia Police and Fire Departments responded to the crash site. An ABC 17 News reporter saw a Boone County Health ambulance leave the scene with its sirens on around 45 minutes before power was restored.

Power was fully restored by 5:20 p.m.

Nestor also reported a significant outage on West Broadway near Kelly Ridge Apartments around the same time of the Vandiver crash.