Woman injured by fallen utility pole

Several utility poles were torn down in the southern Grenadines during the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2024. Months later, at least one resident on the mainland has escaped fatal injury from a falling pole and wires that may be totally unrelated to that weather system.

On Wednesday, February 19, two poles fell in the capital, Kingstown. In the first incident a woman was injured at the intersection of Grenville and Higginson Streets.

The exact cause of the downed pole remains unclear, but persons have surmised that materials being carried on a truck the previous day may have snagged the lines. The pole fell sometime after 9’o’clock on Wednesday morning, February 19, 2025 damaging the woman’s hand.

The second incident took place at the intersection of Sharpe Street and Long Lane Upper, where equipment from a truck got entangled with wires attached to a pole. No one was injured in this incident.

In response to the first incident, the St Vincent Electricity Services (VINLEC) issued a statement expressing their awareness of the situation and wished the injured individual a swift recovery. They mentioned that the affected pole did not belong them; it was under the care of other service providers. VINLEC’s Communications Officer, Bria King, informed SEARCHLIGHT that the company had no facilities on the second pole that fell at Sharpe Street and Long Lane Upper.

Several Digicel employees were observed along North River Road/School Road on Wednesday working on poles within the vicinity where the pole at the corner of Higginson and Grenville Streets had fallen.

The telecommunications provider told SEARCHLIGHT that the workers were engaged in regular maintenance and repairs that were scheduled before the incident at Higginson and Grenville Streets happened. The company also noted that while they oversee the service lines, they do not own the poles, but instead rent them from VINLEC.