405 Freeway In Fountain Valley Shut Down After Power Lines Fall On Lanes
FOUNTAIN VALLEY (CBS) — Traffic was shut down on the San Diego (405) Freeway Thursday afternoon after downed power lines at Magnolia in Fountain Valley caused several traffic collisions.
The lines fell across the freeway just after 2:45 p.m., a California Highway Patrol officer said.
A stream of phone called poured into the 911 dispatch center.
"I'm reporting a telephone wire across the 405 Freeway just right before Magnolia southbound," a caller said.
"Does it look like it's hot," the dispatcher asked?
"Yeah, it's probably hot," the caller said.
"I'm constantly telling these people, 'Y'all need to get back, because I don't know if these wires are hot. I don't know if they're not.' But I figure like this, if something happens, it's going to look ugly," a witness said.
One driver told us that the line cut through the grill of her BMW. She said that when she slammed on her breaks, she was rear-ended.
One driver was transported to an area hospital.
Southern California Edison workers were in the area before the lines went down, but it was unclear how they ended up on the freeway.
Derek Bell, reporting in Sky9, said that by 4:10 p.m. utility workers seemed to have removed most of the power lines out of harm's way.
Bell reported that traffic was backed up from Long Beach to the north and Costa Mesa to the south.
Southern California Edison said that they were investigating the cause.
"This is a miracle that everyone walked away from it," a witness said.
