By MARIE MCCOLM

CENTER – An accident involving a tractor-trailer that struck a utility pole Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 28, left parts of Center without power and internet, according to Facebook posts from the Center Consolidated School District and the San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative.

The accident occurred at the corner 4th and Broadway Street near the CCSD preschool around 3 p.m. The CCSD reported that no students or staff were injured, but the district’s preschool students were released for pick-up at the daycare center rather than in the usual designated area.

SLV REC said it was providing “mutual assistance” to the city and working to restore power. Ciello also said he was working on the internet.

According to SLV REC and Ciello, power and internet services were restored around 6 p.m., but they also warned residents that service interruptions may continue during permanent repairs.

Barbara Ulibarri, who lives in the center, spoke about the outages and how worrying it is to be without electricity.

“I was at work when we heard what happened,” she said. “We were without power for a few minutes before our generator kicked in, so we had at least partial power to our building. I left work and went home, but there was no power at home. A neighbor told me she had heard we could be without power for up to 24 hours. I decided to go into town to buy something for dinner that didn’t require cooking, and when I got home, the power was fully back on.”

Ulibarri said power was restored around 5:20 p.m. Ulibarri said she was worried the center would be without power all night.

“Thank God that didn’t happen,” she said.

Information about the causes of the accident was not released.