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Atherton police: Crash closes El Camino between Wilburn Avenue, Lloyden Drive and Almendral Avenue

A car crash caused a power outage and traffic closure along El Camino Real in Atherton on Nov. 10, 2023. Screenshot via PG&E website.

UPDATE: El Camino Real reopened shortly before 7 p.m., Atherton police said.

A driver who fell asleep at the wheel crashed into a utility pole in the early morning hours of Friday, Nov. 10, knocking out power and causing the closure of traffic in both directions on El Camino Real between Wilburn Avenue, Lloyden Drive and Almendral Avenue in Atherton, according to a town news bulletin.

As of 10:15 a.m., Atherton police say the roadway is expected to reopened at 4 p.m.

The collision caused a "major" AT&T fiber optic communications cable to fall across all lanes of El Camino Real around 2 a.m., said Police Chief Steve McCulley in an email. Some 354 PG&E customers in Atherton were without power as of 9:41 a.m., according to PG&E's outage maps. Power is expected to be restored at 7 p.m.

"We had trouble in getting AT&T technicians to respond," he said. "AT&T recently contacted us and advised they will be arriving on scene shortly."

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Police say no one was injured in the incident.

At 8:12 a.m., McCulley told The Almanac it was hoped that El Camino could be reopened by around 10 a.m. but that timeline was extended by another eight hours.

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Angela Swartz
 
Angela Swartz joined The Almanac in 2018 and covers education and small towns. She has a background covering education, city politics and business. Read more >>

Follow AlmanacNews.com and The Almanac on Twitter @almanacnews, Facebook and on Instagram @almanacnews for breaking news, local events, photos, videos and more.

Atherton police: Crash closes El Camino between Wilburn Avenue, Lloyden Drive and Almendral Avenue

by / Almanac

Uploaded: Fri, Nov 10, 2023, 9:55 am
Updated: Fri, Nov 10, 2023, 8:27 pm

UPDATE: El Camino Real reopened shortly before 7 p.m., Atherton police said.

A driver who fell asleep at the wheel crashed into a utility pole in the early morning hours of Friday, Nov. 10, knocking out power and causing the closure of traffic in both directions on El Camino Real between Wilburn Avenue, Lloyden Drive and Almendral Avenue in Atherton, according to a town news bulletin.

As of 10:15 a.m., Atherton police say the roadway is expected to reopened at 4 p.m.

The collision caused a "major" AT&T fiber optic communications cable to fall across all lanes of El Camino Real around 2 a.m., said Police Chief Steve McCulley in an email. Some 354 PG&E customers in Atherton were without power as of 9:41 a.m., according to PG&E's outage maps. Power is expected to be restored at 7 p.m.

"We had trouble in getting AT&T technicians to respond," he said. "AT&T recently contacted us and advised they will be arriving on scene shortly."

Police say no one was injured in the incident.

At 8:12 a.m., McCulley told The Almanac it was hoped that El Camino could be reopened by around 10 a.m. but that timeline was extended by another eight hours.

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