Crime & Safety

Balloon Knocks Out High Voltage Wires on North Newbridge Road

Three 13,000 volt electrical wires fell, burning holes into the road and causing power outages.

Smoke, electrical explosions and pavement burnt into glass made North Newbridge Road look like a war zone Monday afternoon-- and it was all caused by a mylar balloon, the Long Island Power Association (LIPA) said.

The Nassau County Police Department's 8th Precinct responded to a call at 2:56 p.m., Sergeant Murphy said. Three 13,000 volt electrical wires fell on North Newbridge Road between North Bellmore Road and Blue Spruce Road, burning holes into the street and energizing metal reinforcement bars beneath the concrete.

"It was a very powerful surge of electricity," said Murphy.

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Neighbors crowded nearby street corners to get a look as the East Meadow Fire Department worked to put out smoke and electrical explosions along the road and LIPA worked to repair the fallen wires.

LIPA spokesperson Mark Gross said the power of 588 customers was affected when a mylar balloon came in contact with a primary wire, taking it down and burning two other wires with it.

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All customers have now regained power, according to the LIPA outage map.

All of the homes on the affected stretch of North Newbridge Road were evacuated, along with the homes behind it on Oak Tree Lane, East Meadow Fire Department 3rd Assistant Chief Walter Griffin said.

No one was injured, but the homeowners at 294 North Newbridge Road narrowly avoided tragedy, Griffin said as firefighters hosed down a large hole burnt into the driveway just behind the vehicle.

"It could've been much worse if the power wasn't turned out so quickly," he said. "We could've lost the car and the house."

Both the northbound and southbound lanes of North Newbridge Road were closed to traffic between Birch Lane and Blue Spruce Road. The southbound side has now been reopened, but the northbound side will be closed indefinitely, said Griffin, adding that they hoped to have it reopened by 8 or 9 p.m. tonight.

Griffin said the entire stretch of road will need to be redone, but the holes will be patched temporarily so the road is usable for now. Gross said the northbound side would be reopened in the next hour, as soon as LIPA finishes repairing the wires.


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