Wet roads contributed to a scary one-vehicle rollover accident this past Sunday in Great Oaks. Family members report that the young couple hydroplaned into an electric pole before rolling multiple times. A large piece of the pole went through the sunroof of the car, but thankfully neither the driver, 20-year-old Alayna Maria Bowman, nor her passenger were severely injured. The young couple were headed for a quick trip the store when the accident happened near the intersection of CR770 and CR 7810 around 3:55 p.m. in the afternoon. A huge storm blew across Medina County Sunday mid afternoon dumping 2,3, and 4 inches of rain and lots of strong winds.
Alayna’s mother, Rachel Lopez, stated, “From what the state trooper said to me, my daughter Alayna hit a slick spot due to the wet road, and it caused her vehicle to hydroplane hitting an electric pole and causing the vehicle to flip over a couple of times. All of the airbags deployed, I do believe they did save my daughter and her boyfriend from any harm. Thank you God.”
Additionally, she commented on social media “I was only two miles away, when we arrived I was so grateful that they were both unharmed except for a few scrapes and cuts. The vehicle a total loss….The scariest part was them telling me the car flipped over and over. I am still shocked. Thank you to everyone who helped them, it means so much to me.”
Knocks out power to 412
According to Medina Electric about 412 customers were without power due to the downed electric line.
MEC explains, “Crews worked to sectionalize the line (which in simple, non-industry terms means they basically break up the line with different equipment so that they can restore power to a large group of people while keeping electricity off to the area where the broken pole is). Their sectionalizing work turned power back on to about 85 people. After that, they completely replaced the power pole. Those members had power back on shortly before midnight, so they were without power for about 8 hours total.”
What to do: live power lines
All are grateful that the occupants were able to get out safely, especially since there were live power lines involved in the accident.
“This is a huge safety concern,” a MEC representative states. MEC shared the following information on what to do if you’re ever in a wreck involving live electrical wires:
“When you are in an auto accident, your first instinct is to get out of the car. But in a wreck with a power line, that could be a fatal mistake. By getting out, you could become the path to ground for electricity and risk electrocution. If you aren’t in immediate danger, remain in the vehicle until help arrives.”
“If there is pressing danger and you must exit the vehicle, you should follow very specific steps. With the door open, prepare to jump out of the vehicle. During the jump you must make sure that no part of your body or clothing is touching the vehicle and ground at the same time. You may need to remove long or loose-fitting clothing. Make sure that you land with your feet together. Once you land, you should shuffle your feet away from the car. Get at least 30 feet away before you begin to walk normally. This sounds silly, but it is your best chance at avoiding electrocution,” the literature states.
Please educate yourself by reading more at: https://www.medinaec.org/content/auto-accidents-involving-power-lines.
Volunteers help
As crews assisted with the call additional weather rolling in took several trees down within the area of CR 7711 and other areas within the county. Devine Volunteer Fire Department members on scenes of both calls were: Fire Chief Michael Walker, Carla Walker, 1st Lieutenant Byron Hruzek, Daniel Thomas, Robert Cline, Brenda Cline and Justine Hruzek. Natalia Volunteer Firemen also responded Sunday to the wreck and for trees down across roads.
Another 550 affected
Medina Electric reports they had about 550 members in other areas of Medina County/county line without a power as a result of lightning strikes or trees/debris being blown into power lines.
“Those outages were spread out all over the county, from Tarpley to the Moore and Big Foot areas,” a MEC representative stated. “Many of those were individual outages, meaning and individual fuse had to be replaced. That was a result of the widespread lightning and high winds. Unfortunately, individual outages means that there is not quick or easy ways for crews to restore power – they have to visit each of those locations to get power back on. We know members were frustrated with how long it took, and I can understand that. It is hard to be without power for any amount of time in this day and age. But, that is why restoring power to all members took so long – visiting that many locations takes time, even if you only spend 10 minutes at each location replacing equipment. We appreciate the patience of all our members. We also had crews from our Uvalde, Bruni, Dilley and Rio Grande City offices responding to about 150 outages in their areas.”
