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Accident Closes Willamette Street & Causes Nearby Power Outage

Note: This story will be updated as new developments occur. 

Monday evening, the Eugene Police Department and EWEB responded to a vehicle crash on Willamette Street and 29th Avenue.  The EPD closed off a portion of Willamette Street where the incident occured while the area was cleared, and through the night utility crews worked to restore power for roughly 700 residents.

Witnesses at the scene told KLCC that the driver hit a curb and continued down the street where she hit a utility pole. The pole snapped in half and the vehicle rolled over, trailing debris until it came to stop, resting on its roof.

Sabrina Rhoades said she was working nearby when she heard a boom, and ran outside.  Rhoades was among the first to check on the driver.

“I’m First Aid Certified, so I made sure that her neck was supported and there was no major injuries, or fire to remove her from the vehicle and kind of made sure no one else moved her ‘til EMS arrived,” Rhoades said.

Credit Brian Bull / KLCC
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KLCC
The upended vehicle as of 4:45pm Monday afternoon.

Rhoades said the sole driver was responsive and conscious when first responders arrived. The cause of the crash remains unknown and local residents near the accident site experienced power outages.  No reports of further injury have followed the incident.

An EWEB map shows that power has since been restored.

Copyright 2019, KLCC.

Tiffany joined the KLCC News team in 2007. She studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked in a variety of media including television, technical writing, photography and daily print news before moving to the Pacific Northwest.
Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.
Melorie Begay is a multimedia journalist for KLCC News. She was the Inaugural KLCC Public Radio Foundation Journalism Fellow. She has a bachelors in Multimedia Journalism from the University of New Mexico. She previously interned at KUNM public radio in Albuquerque, NM and served as a fellow for the online news publication New Mexico In Depth.
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