A car careened off State Route 78 near El Camino Country Club Tuesday afternoon and smashed into a power pole, sending the driver to a hospital, forcing the closure of a nearby on-ramp and knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses.
The 35-year-old motorist lost control of her eastbound car while swerving sharply to the right to avoid a collision shortly before 2 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol. The tan sedan crashed through a fence and hit a utility standard, causing an outage that initially affected about 4,800 addresses in Carlsbad, La Costa, Oceanside and other surrounding communities, San Diego Gas & Electric reported.
Medics took the driver to a hospital for treatment of facial cuts, CHP public-affairs Officer Jim Bettencourt said. Her three passengers, girls ranging in age from 2 to 14, were evaluated at the scene for minor complaints of pain.
The accident created heavy congestion in the area and forced a long-term closure of the nearby El Camino Real entrance to eastbound SR-78. The connector was likely to remain out of service well into the night, according to the Highway Patrol. Utility crews restored service to the blacked-out areas through the late afternoon and into the evening.
All of the roughly 700 addresses that remained without power as of 5 p.m. were expected to be back online within several hours, SDG&E spokeswoman Gina Jacobs said.
–City News Service
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