KAPA‘A — In a battle between power lines and an automated trash truck, the losers are the ones prevented from using a county facility. The county sent a press release Tuesday morning letting the public know that due to “an
KAPA‘A — In a battle between power lines and an automated trash truck, the losers are the ones prevented from using a county facility.
The county sent a press release Tuesday morning letting the public know that due to “an electrical problem,” all services had been suspended at the Kapa‘a Transfer Station until further notice except for green waste.
What the public did not know was what really caused the problem.
But someone who lives above the transfer station got a good view of the culprit: A county automated trash truck got tangled in power lines and knocked down an utility pole as it drove away from the transfer station.
“He tried to drive away with the truck all raised up,” said Kapa‘a resident Dave Armstrong, who snatched a pictured of the truck with its back in the air and power lines and a utility pole on top of it.
After seeing the mishap from a vantage point at his house, Armstrong said he drove to the station to dump some trash, but was blocked from entering the county facility, which remained closed the entire day.
County spokeswoman Mary Daubert, who had sent the first release press release at 9:44 a.m., was unaware of the accident five hours later.
Daubert contacted county officials and received a response from Solid Waste Division, which operates under the county Public Works Department.
“The electrical problem at the Kapa‘a refuse transfer station this morning was caused by one of the county’s automated garbage trucks striking the power lines at the entrance of the transfer station, which caused the utility pole with the attached wires to come down. The cause of the accident is still under investigation,” county officials state in the response.
At 4:26 p.m. a Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative crew was still on the scene resetting the power lines, according to the county Solid Waste Division, which added that normal operations were expected to resume at the transfer station today.
The county’s response came about a half-hour after Armstrong said he saw KIUC crews replacing the pole and could still see “two KIUC guys” working on the lines.
Besides not being able to dump his trash, Armstrong had an additional concern: How much will this cost taxpayers?
