Hit-and-run leaves 1,900 without power

A vehicle accident in the 1100 block of West Orange Avenue left 1,900 customers without electricity Friday morning.

“It was a hit-and-run vehicle that struck a power pole,” said Rick Carrillo, spokesman for the Porterville Police Department.

The driver or vehicle was not located.

However, the pole was damaged and wires were down, causing the outage, said Brian Thoburn, regional manager for Southern California Edison.

According to Thoburn, an initial 1,900 residents were affected in the area south of Olive Avenue, west of Highway 65, west to Beverly Street and east to Cobb Street. The stop lights at Olive Avenue and Highway 65 were knocked out for a while.

“The vast majority of them had power restored by 9:50 a.m.,” Thoburn said. “As of noon, we still had 275 customers without power. Crews are making repairs and we expect them to be finished and all power restored by 3:30 p.m.”