The force of a wreck on E.B. Cooper Highway Thursday night seemed to fold a pickup in half. No one was injured, even though the crash also brought down a power pole and a couple other vehicles got entangled in the wires.
It was the second time this week that the highway between Riceboro and Allenhurst had been closed because of a wreck. GSP Trooper Chris Palmer said Thursday’s wreck happened just after 9:30, as the driver of the pick apparently lost control as he rounded a curve and slammed into the pole.
The impact knocked the pole down and the live wires were on the road.
Husband and wife, Debra and Devron Kelso, where driving him to work in Riceboro when she said street lights went out. Debra who, was driving, said she saws a fire along the road and slowed down. That’s when she heard a crunching and banging sound outside the vehicle. Their car became entangled in the power lines. Debra said she couldn’t get out the driver’s side door, so both climbed out the passenger’s side and avoided the wires under her vehicle.
When they realized what was going and that their car sat on a curve, they tried warning other motorist headed at them.
Meanwhile, fire units from Walthourville and Riceboro arrived to help the pickup driver and fight a brush fire stared from the downed wires.
The driver of the pickup, which landed in a ditch in the southbound lane, has not been identified. He was able to get out even though it was extensively damaged. Emergency personnel treated him on the scene. He was later flown to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah.
Another vehicle was also tangled in the power lines further up the road from the Kelsos. Both vehicles were freed and those drivers on their way after filing a report with the Georgia State Patrol.
Monday night a load of cardboard on a trailer ignited when a wheel overheated and the highway was closed most of the night as emergency personnel fought the flames.