THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 19, 1995 TAG: 9511190162
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
For the second time in about 30 hours, a tractor-trailer wrecked in the city - this time near the Oceanfront, blocking the road Saturday and leaving hundreds of residents in the dark for about 12 hours.
Instead of spilling thousands of gallons of gasoline as happened in Thursday night's accident on Indian River Road, this one scattered hundreds of boxes of frozen food when the trailer burst open.
It was a veritable Thanksgiving feast, featuring everything from cases of turkey and gravy with dressing to assorted cobblers: apple, cherry and berry.
For area residents, the wreck was no holiday.
``I was sure a bomb had hit my house,'' said Tonia Jacobsen, whose home on 83rd Street at Atlantic Avenue is 50 yards from where the accident occurred about 4:30 a.m. ``I started crying.''
She said she felt the vibrations as the truck - having rolled on its side - scraped along the pavement and then hit a utility pole. She said she heard power lines snapping and the screams of the truck driver: ``Get me out!''
Police said the driver, Garry Price, 35, of Quantico, Md., was cut free by rescue crews and taken to Virginia Beach General Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
Police spokesman Lou Thurston said Price lost control while driving north on Atlantic Avenue. The truck jackknifed and flipped on its right side. The roof of the cab hit the utility pole. The impact crushed the driver's compartment and sheared off the pole.
The fully loaded trailer burst, dumping hundreds of cases of Marie Callender's frozen foods. Items ranged from macaroni and cheese to fettucini with broccoli and chicken.
The mess forced the closure of Shore Drive and Atlantic Avenue from Fort Story's west gate to 77th Street.
Most folks could get in and out of their neighborhoods, although some detours were inconvenient. The Army opened Fort Story, allowing civilians through the base.
Residents of 83rd Street were trapped, however, until all utility work was complete and the wrecked truck was removed at 6:30 p.m.
The refrigerated truck - a 1996 model Freightliner valued at more than $70,000 - was owned by Ryder Rental Co. and was leased to Glacier Refrigeration Express of Federalsburg, Md., Thurston said.
Price told police he was driving from Lyndhurst, Va., to Delaware and Maryland. It was unclear why he was on Atlantic Avenue.
Price was charged with driving while intoxicated and, if convicted, would lose his commercial driver's license for three years.
The accident cut electric service to 730 Virginia Power customers, one of those being Fort Story.
Virginia Power technicians switched Fort Story to an alternate circuit, and the lights were back on at the base within an hour.
It wasn't so easy for the 729 other customers. The smell of wood smoke was heavy in the air at times as residents without electricity turned to fireplaces for heat.
Utility crews then cleared the tangle of high tension lines and replaced the pole. Four heavy utility trucks encircled it, mechanical arms extended skyward as linemen attached power lines.
The work went on through the afternoon, with 500 customers getting their lights back by 2 p.m. All service was restored about 4:45 p.m., about the same time police opened all but one of four lanes of traffic.
Meanwhile, a salvage team hired by Glacier began collecting and stacking the scattered cases of frozen food and unloading what remained in the trailer.
Thurston said the company had been asked to donate the food to a local charity. But the company said that because of insurance requirements it would have to truck the merchandise to Maryland, inventory it and then donate it to charities there.
Across town, work will resume Monday to finish cleaning up Thursday night's accident in which an overturned gasoline tanker spilled 1,500 gallons of fuel on Indian River Road at Interstate 64.
City crews will tear up two lanes of pavement heavily damaged by the gasoline and resurface the road. Lanes will be closed and an off-ramp of I-64 will be blocked during the work, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. MEMO: Correspondent Nancy Lewis contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
L. TODD SPENCER
The 4:30 a.m. accident at 83rd and Atlantic Street on the Oceanfront
took out a utility pole. Virginia Power replaced the pole and
restored power to its 730 customers by 4:45 p.m. Saturday.
Photo
L. TODD SPENCER
In the second of two tractor-trailer accidents in Virginia Beach
within the past two days, hundreds of cases of Marie Callender's
frozen food were spilled when the leased Ryder truck overturned. The
accident crushed the driver's compartment and sheared off a utility
pole, causing a power outage to hundreds of residents.
Graphic
LANES TO CLOSE
Several lanes of Indian River Road at Interstate 64 will be closed
Monday for repaving where a truck spilled gasoline last week. Work
will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC POWER OUTAGE INJURIES
DRUNKEN DRIVING by CNB