2 Cars Crash Into Utility Pole, Power Out In Grand Central District

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Multiple traffic lights are out along Central Avenue, 1st Avenue N. and 1st Avenue S. from 19th Street to 34th Street Saturday afternoon, the St. Petersburg Police Department posted to X, formerly Twitter.

Drivers should treat these intersections as a four-way stop, police said.

The power outage is the result of two vehicles crashing into a utility pole at the intersection of 1st Avenue S. and 19th Street S.

Officers at the scene told Patch that the crash happened around noon. There were no injuries.

“We have no idea when they’ll (the traffic lights) will be back on,” an officer added.

About 2,800 Duke Energy customers in the area were without power after the crash, according to the company's outage map. It’s estimated that power will be restored by 2:30 p.m.

An employee at nearby Good Intentions, a vegan restaurant usually open for brunch at this time of day, said, “We have no power. We have no gas. We should be open by dinner — hopefully, if the power comes back on.”

Duke Energy crews were at the scene of the crash around 1 p.m. The crash scene hadn’t been cleared at this time and the two cars remained up against the cracked utility pole.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated when there is more information.