Busy east Charlotte road closed all day after car takes out utility poles

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hundreds of people in east Charlotte were without power for much of the day after a car crashed into several power poles early Monday, according to officials.

Initially, more than 1,200 Duke Energy customers were without power. But, only about 600 were without power for most of the day.

Duke Energy reported at 1:30 p.m. Monday four customers remained without power. The estimated restoration time for these customers is 6:00 p.m. Monday.

[IMAGES: Car crashes into power poles along Eastway Drive]

The collision happened around 1 a.m. on Eastway Drive near Sugar Creek Road. Channel 9 crews could see four poles that had been damaged and a vehicle overturned on its side.

[DUKE ENERGY POWER OUTAGES MAP]

The driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, police said.

A few hours after the initial accident, another vehicle drove past police and into the downed lines. Channel 9 crews watched as police took that driver into custody. There was no word on any charges.

We first updated WSOCTV news app users with a notification just after 5 a.m. Monday that drivers would have to avoid this mess.

Download the WSOCTV news app for your smartphone and get updates on this developing story as they come in.

Power lines were down across Eastway Drive and officers had all lanes closed between Sugar Creek Road and The Plaza.

Crews weren't able to clean up the mess and reopen the lanes until Monday evening.

At 11:30 Monday, Duke Energy Crews were still working on restoring the power. Reporter Gina Esposito said when she looked at her WSOC Weather App, it was already 87 degrees.

Charlotte is expected to see potentially triple digit heat this week and fighting the heat was difficult for those who lost power Monday morning.

Resident Danny Honeycutt said he lost power around 1 a.m. He said if he needed to, he had a generator to hook up to.

Lakayla Manning said sought air conditioning at the library, where she took out some books and got a cold drink.

"I was mad because it was hot," Manning said.

Another neighbor said he was concerned about the three young children at his home. He said he was trying to find a creative way to keep them cool.

"It's pretty pretty tough," he said. "But, I'm about to fill a pool up for the little chaps and uh, let them get in the swimming pool."

Some neighbors told Channel 9 that despite the frustration, they found the best ways to get through the sweltering conditions were to keep doors closed, windows shut, and dry ice in the refrigerator.

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