Power restored to over 1,700 Florida Power and Light customers in Indian River County
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Florida Power and Light has restored power to more than 1,700 customers near a busy intersection and shopping area after a power line fell Thursday afternoon.
Crews restored electric power to all customers shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday to the area of State Road 60 and 58th Avenue, according to FPL. The outage affected businesses and traffic signals west to Interstate 95.
No one was injured by the downed power line.
Sheriff Eric Flowers said Friday there were two traffic crashes in the area related to the power outage. One had no injuries and the other involved a transport to a hospital.
"We assisted with keeping traffic moving in the area," he said.
The power line fell on a sidewalk on the southeast side of State Road 60 near 58th Avenue in front of Walgreens.
Initially Thursday, officials reported two power lines fell, but Friday FPL said it was one.
Indian River County sheriff's deputies and firefighters closed parts of both roads so utility workers could shut off power ahead of repairs.
Traffic lights at the busy intersection of S.R. 60 and 58th Avenue were out, Indian River County sheriff's officials said. Drivers were being told to treat the intersection and others without power as four-way stops.
Firefighters first responded to the area at about 1:45 p.m. following reports of sparking wires, said Richard Marini, assistant fire chief for Indian River County Fire Rescue.
Arriving fire crews found one power line on the sidewalk in front of Walgreens.
Fire crews and law enforcement waited in the area for Florida Power and Light workers to shut off power to the grid along the southeast side of State Road 60 at 58th Avenue.
FPL crews arrived shortly before 3:30 p.m. and shut power off, FPL spokesman Kamrel Eppinger said Friday.
Eppinger said 1,719 customers lost power just after 4 p.m. Thursday.
"...Within 30 minutes we were able to restore all but 34," Eppinger said.
More: Storm knocks out power to some in St. Lucie, sets up 'nasty' weekend at area beaches
More: Power lines fall at State Road 60 intersection causing traffic light, business outages
FPL was still investigating the cause of the downed line Friday.
"It could be related to the cool weather we had," Marini said.
He said power lines contract and expand with temperature fluctuations, and we've had recent bouts of lows in the 40s and 50s.
Corey Arwood is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Corey on X @coreyarwood, or reach him by phone at 772-978-2246. Keith Burbank is a watchdog reporter for TCPalm. He can be reached at keith.burbank@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida Power and Light restores electricity following fallen line
