About half of Richland, Texas was without telephone service Monday because an 18-wheeler broke a line of telephone poles and did some damage to parked cars along his route through the city around 11 p.m. Sunday.
The 75-year-old truck driver from Hickory, Ky., told Richland Fire Chief Kenneth Guard that he was following his GPS navigation system when the incident took place.
Evidently, the driver was heading towards Mexia and exited Interstate 45 onto South 14, then turned right on Navarro Drive, then left onto Crest Drive and during those turns the rig got caught in some telephone wires. Unaware that he was dragging the wires, the driver continued south, snapping poles along the way.
"One of the poles broke off towards the top and impaled itself in a minivan on the street," said Lonny Haschel, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. "The van being dragged by the semi then strikes a parked RV. The pole came loose from the van and struck a parked Jaguar parked in a carport."
In all, five poles were broken and the incident is still under investigation.
About 50 customers were without service, said Scott Morris, a representative for Windstream, the phone system in Richland. Service was expected to return by Monday evening.
"Apparently, the truck took out five poles, so they're having to reset the poles before they can restring the line," Morris said.
No one was injured in the incident.
