UPDATE: The Bakersfield Police Department is reporting that the eastbound lanes of Rosedale Highway and the southbound lanes of Coffee Rd. are closed and will likely be for the next 6-8 hours. The northbound and westbound lanes are still open.
We'll continue to update as new information comes in.
UPDATE: A tanker truck crashed at Rosedale Highway. and Coffee Rd. just after 3:30 a.m. Wednesday. The intersection remained closed and traffic was being diverted. Power was restored to approximately 900 PG&E customers by 6 a.m. Still, approximately 1,329 homes and businesses remained without electricity at that time.
A tanker truck crashed at Rosedale Hwy. and Coffee Rd. just after 3:30 a.m. Wednesday. No injuries were reported, but the intersection remained closed and traffic was being diverted in all directions as of 4:30 a.m. Law enforcement encouraged drivers to use alternate routes but were hoping to have the intersection reopened by 7 a.m.
The tanker truck tipped and partially caught fire. Smoke was seen coming from the wreckage. A small army of firefighters responded and BPD officers were on scene diverting traffic. But the firefighter had to wait for an 'all-clear' from PG&E crews before dousing the flames with water due to a downer power pole and transmission lines in the roadway.
3,900 customers lost power around 3:40 a.m., according to a PG&E spokeswoman. Power had been restored to approximately 900 of those customers by 9 a.m., PG&E reported. An online outage map showed power outages were spotty, but covered a swath of northwest Bakersfield, west of Jewetta Ave. to a little east of Highway 99. There was no immediate estimate when power would be fully restored.