ACCIDENT SNARLS TRAFFIC FOR HOURS; BOOM TRUCK SNAPS UTILITY LINES AT WILLIAM AND SHERIDAN

A boom truck snagged utility lines Wednesday at William Street and Sheridan Drive causing one to drop on a nearby truck and another to ensnare a tractor-trailer rig.

No one was hurt, but 50 to 100 telephone customers were without service while Southwestern Bell employees scrambled to fix the dangling line.

The accident happened about noon, and traffic was rerouted.

The driver of the boom truck, Aaron Dwight Hurst of Walnut Ridge, Ark., was traveling east on William when the partially raised boom hit the telephone line with a loud crack, snapping several connectors.

The truck, belonging to Burlington Northern Railway, kept going, but Hurst returned to the scene when he realized what had happened, said Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Kevin Orr.

The tractor-trailer, driven by Garett Wade Dunning of Chaffee, Mo., failed to stop in time to avoid the downed line and got caught.

A police officer had just arrived on the scene and attempted to stop the rig, but apparently the driver didn't see him, Orr said.

Norma Habeck, manager at Smoker's Outlet Inc., has a good view of the intersection from her William Street storefront, but at first she didn't realize what had caused the commotion.

"Sparks were flying -- I mean big ones -- and the cables were swinging and lights were swaying," she said. "At first I thought we were having that big ol' earthquake they keep talking about. I was shaking so badly I didn't know if it was the building or me."

Officials at Ameren UE said the power flickered and arced briefly as a result of the impact, but no major interruptions to electric service occurred.

Linda Harper, area manager for construction and engineering at Southwestern Bell, said a contractor had to be called in to fix several lines.

"It could have been a whole lot worse," Harper said. If the lines had been cut in two, they would have had to be replaced -- a much more time-consuming process.

Several lines were damaged, requiring workers to fix them individually. Westbound lanes on William were open by about 4:30 p.m., but the eastbound lanes were to remain closed overnight.