A 7:15 a.m. Tuesday mishap with a construction boom truck snapped an electrical line on Whitmore Avenue, shutting down power to thousands then hundreds of Ceres homes all day.

Lt. Brent Smith of the Ceres Police Department said that the operator of the boom truck working on the PG&E line replacement project failed to see that he had snagged an overheard power line east of Rose Avenue and ended up severing the line and snapping the power pole. The pole crashed into the equipment and landed in the front yard of a residence on the south side of Whitmore Avenue causing what sounded like two to three large shotgun type blasts.

The line power line danced on the ground and arced against the metal equipment. The operator was not injured but did not leave his seat until it was determined that the power was off, said Lt. Smith.

Whitmore Avenue was shut down for most of the day between Moffet Road and Mitchell Avenue, said Smith, to allow TID to make the repairs to two poles, a transformer and overhead lines. Power was restored after 6 p.m.