Crash knocks out power on Thanksgiving

TALKEETNA — If your Thanksgiving this year was hectic, what with all the family and the coordination of the cooking of various dishes, be thankful you weren’t one of the 375-or-so Susitna Valley residents who had to deal with a power outage on top of everything else.

The outage was the result of a car accident, of all things, at 3:50 a.m., Nov. 27 — Thanksgiving morning.

The vehicle that took out the power pole was a 1989 Ford F-150 pickup, according to an Alaska State Trooper press release. The pole in question was “at the railroad crossing” on Talkeetna Spur Road, according to Matanuska Electric Association and state trooper reports.

The driver, Jacob Nordman, 20, of Talkeetna, was drunk when he hit the pole, the press statement alleges. But that wasn’t the worst of his troubles.

“Further investigation determined Normand had an extraditable warrant from Wisconsin for a Probation Violation on original charges of Burglary, Criminal Damage to Property and Theft of Movable Property,” troopers report.

As of Monday afternoon he was still listed as an inmate of the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility.

At any rate, as troopers were sorting all that out, the Matanuska Electric Association sprung into action.

Julie Estey, MEA spokeswoman, sent out updates throughout the day. The first said that the power would be out for as crews worked on a temporary fix — stabilizing the pole and getting power back on — and a second outage was planned as crews worked on a more permanent fix.

“We will let folks know as soon as we have an approximate time for the second outage in the morning so folks can time turkey cooking and football watching. Thanksgiving is a tough day for an outage for members and crews alike,” Estey wrote.

On its Facebook page, MEA explained that the temporary fix needed to be replaced with a permanent one soon because the pole was part of “such a critical line for Talkeetna.”

That outage went off as planned at about noon. By 12:55 p.m. MEA was updating its Facebook page to say the switch had been thrown and power restored.

“Thanks to our linemen and dispatchers who gave up their holiday today. We hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving!” the utility wrote.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.