HOUSTON — Residents in a southwest Houston neighborhood said they’re grateful everyone is OK after an excavator working on ongoing construction in the area reportedly hit several low-lying power lines and snapped at least two power poles in half.
One of the poles landed on a parked van causing the vehicle to catch on fire.
This happened on Tuesday morning along Club Creek Drive just south of Beechnut. At one point nearly 3,000 homes were without power.
CenterPoint crews were seen working for hours restoring power and fixing the mangled lines.
While it didn’t appear anyone was hurt, some of the parked vehicles at a nearby apartment complex didn’t fare as lucky.
Crews on the scene told KHOU 11’s Michelle Choi, that one of the broken power poles landed on a white van parked inside, causing it to burst into flames.
"We got really scared when that happened,” Ahmad Daway, 10, who witnessed the fire, said.
He and his parents were asleep when they woke up to the startling sound.
"We just hear a big boom, like boom, and we come outside, and we find this (the vehicle) all on fire... the side smoking everywhere,” he said.
Ahmad said, fortunately, firefighters were quickly able to put the fire out before it spread.
Another resident who dealt with car troubles included Luis Fernando, whose brand-new car was also damaged by one of the broken power poles.
"Broken sunroof, scratches on the car, and a lot of dust,” Fernando said.
As upsetting as the situation was, he shared he was glad no one was hurt.
"That’s one thing, that nobody's hurt and it's just material stuff, but yes, I hope that they get it fixed,” Fernando said.
Fernando also shared, that someone from CenterPoint is helping him file a claim with the engineering firm responsible for Tuesday morning’s incident.
KHOU 11 News has reached out to CenterPoint Energy for details.
