Crash leads to power outage

A one-vehicle crash south of New Hampton led to a widespread power outage in and around Chickasaw County Sunday morning, but thanks to some quick work by New Hampton Light Plant employees, the lights didn’t stay off too long in New Hampton.Although an official crash report wasn’t available at press time, those at the scene of the accident on 240th Street said a vehicle hit a light pole carrying a transmission line a little before 11 a.m.“It was a little weird just because the weather was fine and all of a sudden there’s no power,” Light Plant General Manager Brian Quirk said. “It wasn’t just us, either. It hit the RECs, too, and we had a good chunk of northern part of the county and parts of Howard and Winneshiek, too.”— For more on this story, see the Dec. 18 New Hampton Tribune.