Blowin’ in the Wind

Tuesday, January 10, 2017
A utility pole leans precariously over Washington Street next to Greencastle High School Tuesday afternoon. Winds nearly took the pole down before Duke Energy crews arrived to replace it.
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

Tuesday wind gusts nearly take down utility pole near Greencastle High School

The quick work of crews from Duke Energy and probably a dose of good luck kept a bad situation from getting a whole lot worse Tuesday afternoon on the city’s east side.

Shortly after noon, emergency workers were called to the scene of a badly leaning utility pole on East Washington Street immediately east of the entrance to Greencastle High School.

Swaying a little more with each gust of wind, the pole teetered over the street at angles approaching 60 degrees during the strongest gusts.

The angle of the pole left slack in the lines that crossed the street to residences to the north. However, the power and communication lines that run along Washington Street were pulled tight, with the wind threatening to snap them if the pole went.

Greencastle Police blocked the road to the east and west of the trouble spot until Duke crews could arrive and take over the operation.

Upon the arrival of a full utility crew, the pole was first temporarily pulled back to perpendicular to the ground before the more involved task of digging a hole and setting a new pole began.

A Duke Energy truck braces a pole that had been leaning heavily beside Washington Street at Greencastle High School.
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

The job went on until after sundown, as crews fought the rain, wind and even brief bout of hail brought on by the evening’s weather patterns.

Power in the city also went out at approximately 7 p.m. although it’s unclear if the brief outage was related to the pole replacement or directly to the weather.

At one point Tuesday evening, four large Duke bucket trucks were on the scene, with two securing the pole and two others lifting workers into place.

The ongoing work even prompted an alternate release plan for the high school.

All student drivers exited to Percy Julian Drive, while parent pickup took place at the tennis court parking lot, with drivers entering from the west, picking up the students and then leaving back to the west.

All bus traffic was rerouted to the transfer lot at McAnally Center, with no buses using Washington Street.

No students, regardless of release method, were allowed to exit the main doors to the school at the northeast corner.

All other motorists were urged to avoid East Washington Street between Stadium Drive and Percy Julian Drive.

With power lines at the top, an electric transformer, a streetlight and communication cables all housed on the pole, it’s unclear what kind of outages would have been caused had the pole been toppled by the winds.

While Tuesday’s warming trend was a welcome weather development locally, the rain and winds that came with the warmer temperatures wreaked havoc tree limbs and even the banner that spans 300 block of East Washington Street.

Bearing the message “Home for the Holidays,” the banner spanning the 300 block of East Washington Street was due to be replaced soon. Mother Nature started that process on Tuesday, tearing the banner from the cables that hold it in place. Wind gusts as high as 55 mph were recorded in the Putnam County area.
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN
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