Crash: Road closed
Fannin County schools were closed and over 1,000 residents on the East side of Fannin County found themselves without power early Friday morning after a crash at the intersection of State Route 60 and Old Highway 76.
A 2019 Peterbilt garbage truck, registered to Georgia Waste Systems, was headed south on State Route 60.
According to the Georgia State Patrol report by Trooper C. White, the driver, Paul Ray Parker, of Morganton, failed to stop at the stop sign at Old Highway 76. The truck continued off the roadway and struck a power pole guide wire, causing the power pole to snap. This caused power lines to fall. The truck then struck a tree after traveling down an embankment.
Parker told the trooper the stock sign “snuck” up on him. He was charged with failing to stop.
Parker was transported to Blue Ridge Medical Center by Fannin County EMS with minor injuries.
The crash was reported to the Fannin County 911 Center around 4:30 a.m. Friday.
Power was knocked out in the Morganton area, including to East Fannin Elementary School. The outage initially affected 1,047 Tri-State EMC customers; however, once the extent of the damage was determined and the repair time estimated, 587 were able to be switched to alternate sources. However, 460 customers were effected for the entire 10-hour duration of the outage.
The intersection remained closed as crews worked to repair the damage.
Crews from both TDS and ETC also had to restore their individual lines that had been affected.
The road was not re-opened until shortly after 5 p.m. Friday.