Student hospitalized after coming into contact with downed power line, NC school says

A student was hospitalized in Mooresville, North Carolina, after coming into contact with a downed power line next to campus, according to the Mooresville Graded School District.

The name, age and condition of the student were not released.

It happened around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 5, officials said. Mooresville is just north of Charlotte, along Interstate 77.

“A student was walking on private property adjacent to Mooresville Intermediate School and made contact with electrical power lines downed by the recent storms,” the school district wrote on Facebook.

“The student was transported by EMS to the hospital. The student was conscious at the time of transport. ... Please keep this student and family in your thoughts.”

Burns were among the injuries suffered during the encounter, reported the Observer’s news partner WBTV.

The student is a boy and he was later transferred from Lake Norman Regional Medical Center to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, according to the Mooresville Tribune.

The incident happened after classes ended for the afternoon. The school hosts grades 4 through 6 and has 724 students, according to Greatschools.org.

Duke Energy crews arrived shortly after the incident and repaired the line.

Company officials told the Charlotte Observer they are “working to better understand what occurred with this contact accident.”

“We have determined this was storm-related damage,” Jeff Brooks of Duke Energy said in an email. “And while I can’t provide many specifics at this point on the incident, I can say that this storm left many broken poles and downed lines as part of the damage we saw across the state.”

Power outages typically result when trees and other debris fall on lines during or after storms, he said, “but in some instances, a tree can damage a line or lean on the line, but not completely take out the power.”

“This is one of the reasons we always say to stay away from downed or sagging power lines after a storm, and always assume they are energized with electricity,” Brooks said.

“When a line still has power after a storm, it may not register any issues even if it has been damaged, because power remains on for customers and there are no outages.”

This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 8:02 AM with the headline "Student hospitalized after coming into contact with downed power line, NC school says."