The village of Tinonee was left without power on Friday morning, October 21 as a live main power line was clipped by a truck carrying an excavator just before 9am.
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The live line lay on the road, necessitating Cotton St being blocked off from Manchester Street down to Claxton Street.
One half of the wire lay right next to the metal bus stop, where children had been waiting for buses into Taree only minutes previously.
Witnesses said the truck belonged to the Queensland crew who are doing the roadworks on the Bucketts Way at the entrance to Tinonee.
Tina Natress was following the truck travelling up Cotton Street at the time, as she was taking her children and a friend’s child to Tinonee Public School, next to where the incident occurred.
Tina said she could see that the height of the excavator was very close to the power lines crossing overhead.
“He obviously knew that it was close because he was driving really slowly,” she said.
Tina’s friend’s 11-year-old daughter Stephanie was the one who alerted Tina to what was about to happen.
“She saved us from something that could have been really dangerous. She’s my little hero,” Tina said, adding that her first instinct was to “reverse out of there”.
An ambulance attended the scene, however there were no physical injuries. Tina and the children did suffer physical shock from the dangerous incident.
Police also attended and are investigating the incident.
Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
