Truck Accident Spills Restaurant Grease Causing Closure of El Nopal

A truck carrying restaurant grease crashed into a power pole near Lakeside Wednesday, spilling its load and prompting the CHP to close the road to accommodate repairs and a cleanup.

The slippery spill at Riverford Road and El Nopal occurred about 6:30 a.m. when the truck went out of control and hit a power pole, according to the California Highway Patrol. Several vehicles reportedly skidded through the intersection before El Nopal was closed between Riverford and Los Ranchitos roads.

A street-sweeping crew was summoned to clean up the mess, and San Diego Gas & Electric dispatched a crew to repair the pole and secure exposed electrical lines. The impact broke a conduit, the metal or plastic that sheaths the wires, SDG&E spokeswoman Amber Albrecht said.

The crash did not cause an outage, but a planned outage is possible later to accommodate repairs, Albrecht said. The SDG&E crew remained on scene, assessing when repairs would be made, she said.

-City News Service