A power cable that has fallen across the carriageway at Downend has forced the closure of the road between the Hare and Hounds and Robin Hill this evening (Sunday).
At around 18:10, emergency services were called to Downend following reports that a power cable had come down and was on fire.
1 fire appliance from Newport was mobilised to the scene, with the wholetime crew working alongside engineers from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks to isolate the supply.
The arcing power cable, which came down by the bus stop, is now safe.
Police have closed the road in the interests of safety in respect of the live cable and the traffic light outage.
The road remains shut under a hard closure by Island Roads. Motorists are being diverted locally.
The incident has led to a power cut in the area which is affecting around 25 postcodes – and has knocked out the Downend traffic lights.
SSEN engineers are working to restore power as quickly as possible and estimate supplies will be restored by 21:00.
The following postcodes have been affected by this outage:
I do hope the Peacock which sometimes shelters in the phone box was safely roosting elsewhere.
As for the traffic lights being effected it’s about time the council compulsory purchased a few metres of the field and built a large roundabout there
Would cut queues and cut light pollution in an attractive darkish area.
And they could create another at the Arreton/ downend junction where the carved hare is to
Widening the road a little to create two lanes with a right filter on the lights in both directions would also do the trick.
The council’s desk drivers wouldn’t understand that.
Hang it out lads get Monday off heroes as always
I love the statement that the falling cable didn’t cause the outage, It SPARKED it !