Staff report
CHINA GROVE óAn oversized mobile home and a tractor-trailer combined to bring down a main CTC phone line Tuesday, knocking out telephone service and causing a major traffic snafu.
A spokesperson for CTC said it may be the end of the week before all lines are restored.
The mishap occurred at N.C. 152 (Church Street) and Main Street, one of the busiest intersections in town.
A clerk at the Kangaroo convenience store called police after seeing a mobile home snag the CTC cable running along Main Street.
The mobile home continued on, leaving the 4-inch-thick bundle of lines sagging across Church Street.
“It was hanging down 3 or 4 feet for about 30 feet,” said Police Chief Hodge Coffield. He said the mobile home hauler likely didn’t know he hit the line.
Police responded to the scene, called CTC and began directing traffic to avoid further problems.
Along came a tractor-trailer owned by Vistar of Ft. Wayne Indiana and driven by James Mozeley of High Point. As Mozeley tried to make the turn onto Main Street, the sagging cable caught on the back of the refrigerated trailer.
The cable pulled loose from utility poles for a block or more, caught on a tree in a yard, and fell into the street.
“He couldn’t move forward or backward,” said Coffield.
The truck remained stuck in place until CTC crews arrived 30 minutes or so later with a boom truck and freed the truck.
CTC crews arrived en masse to rehang the cable and begin repairing the damage.
Police had to shut down a section of N.C. 152 and reroute traffic through narrow residential streets.
Police remained on the scene until 4:30 p.m.
Kathleen Mahoney, a marketing specialist for CTC, said crews restored all emergency lines and have continued working around the clock to get all service restored.
Mahoney didn’t have specific information on the number of customers or the area affected.