Columbia, Missouri (KMIZ)
A law enforcement chase Thursday night caused an internet outage at some Columbia schools on Friday.
BCSD spokesman Brian Leer said two teens were involved in a chase with Boone County Sheriff’s deputies when they crashed into a car at Vandiver Drive and Oakland Gravel Road. A telephone pole.
Lyle said the Columbia Police Department had attempted to stop the vehicle twice before and that the vehicle had been involved in an earlier crash. Deputies saw the vehicle near Thornberry Drive and Oakland Gravel Road and gave chase. No injuries were reported.
According to Lyle, the driver lost control of the vehicle near Oakland Gravel Road near Hawley Avenue and struck two utility poles.
Several Columbia public schools were affected by the internet outage. A spokesman for the city of Columbia said the outage was caused by a Thursday night crash on a utility pole at Vandiver Drive and Oakland Gravel Road.
Chief Communications Officer Michelle Baumstark said affected buildings include Battle High School, Battle Elementary School, Two Mile Prairie Elementary School and regional transportation facilities.
Baumstark said in an email that this was an outage controlled by the city of Columbia, not district equipment.Service resumed around 12:30 p.m.
City utility crews working on utility poles on Friday told ABC 17 the incident affected power and city fiber optics.
CPS classes are not affected by the outage. Baumstark said the main impact is on mobile phones because the system requires the internet to work.
“We have notified families and provided an alternate contact number so families can contact the school if they have an emergency need,” Baumstark said in an email.
At 6:25 a.m., the district sent its first alert via text message, saying the internet at bus facilities was down. The district said they are still in contact with bus drivers because they are “operating without internet/phones.”
All affected schools are in northeast Columbia, north of Interstate 70.
Columbia Fire Department Station No. 4 is located on Oakland Gravel Road, immediately adjacent to where the incident occurred. Firefighters told ABC 17 News they were using backup generators Thursday night into Friday morning due to phone, internet and power outages.
They said the situation improved around 10:30 a.m. Friday.
CFD Assistant Chief Jeff Heidenreich said in an email that the only impact was on the department’s landline phone system. “All dispatches are being relayed over the radio system as usual, and cellular communications remain available during phone system outages,” he said.
ABC 17 News has reached out to the City of Columbia and the Boone County Sheriff’s Office for more information.
Please check back for updates as the story develops.