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Chain reaction Hwy 11 crash sparks power outage, eatery closure

'My one cook went outside to have a smoke and all of a sudden, the transport truck was veering, braking, everything, and coming right at him,' said restaurant owner
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Blue Moon Junction restaurant and its neighbouring property narrowly avoided significant damage early this morning following a multi-vehicle crash that began with a deer on Highway 11's southbound lane.

A restaurant just north of Orillia is closed for the day, following a multi-vehicle crash in the southbound lanes of Highway 11 that knocked out its power.

At around 12:45 a.m., a vehicle struck a deer and veered into the guardrail near Blue Moon Junction restaurant, which ultimately caused a transport truck to swerve off its course, narrowly avoiding damaging the restaurant.

“One driver hit a deer and lost control and hit the guardrail, losing their front tire,” OPP Const. Brett Boniface told OrilliaMatters. “Another vehicle swerved to avoid hitting that vehicle and lost contents of their truck bed, and then a third vehicle hit the debris, avoided the other vehicles and then hit a hydro pole.”

Boniface said Hydro One crews began work to restore power this morning.

“(They) had to run a new hydro wire across the highway, and because of that they required a shutdown by us this morning in order to get that across,” he said, noting that caused traffic slowdowns on the busy north-south highway. 

Restaurant owner Diana Roman said one of her employees saw the transport truck barrelling towards him seconds after hearing the initial crash.

“My cook was in the house behind there that I have, and they heard a crash,” she explained. “My one cook went outside to have a smoke and all of a sudden, the transport truck was veering, braking, everything, and coming right at him – he stopped 10 feet from the deck.”

Roman said the truck damaged the eavestrough of her shed, but, thankfully, there was not major damage.

“They missed my building. They took out the eavestrough on a shed I have as a walk around to my walk-in freezer, so they missed that, too. They missed my cook’s car, but it chewed up my pavement pretty badly,” she said.

Although work began to restore power this morning, at 11:45 a.m., Roman said her power had yet to be restored. 

Given limited access to her restaurant because of the work being carried out in the area as well, her restaurant has had to remain closed.

“I have no power. You can't flush toilets. You can't wash anything, so right now we're closed,” Roman said. “They said we'd be up and running by now, and then they realized we still don't have power.”


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Greg McGrath-Goudie

About the Author: Greg McGrath-Goudie

Greg has been with Village Media since 2021, where he has worked as an LJI reporter for CollingwoodToday, and now as a city hall/general assignment reporter for OrilliaMatters
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