WOMAN SUFFERS MINOR INJURY IN CAR VERSUS POWER POLE CRASH IN MORONGO VALLEY

A woman suffered only minimal injuries following a crash in Morongo Valley last night. Just after 11 p.m., the woman was driving a cross-over SUV-type vehicle westbound on Highway 62 when for unknown reasons, the car left the road and crashed into a power pole at Big Morongo Canyon Road. The bottom third of the pole was completely separated from the rest of the pole in the collision, leaving the upper part hanging by the power lines, with one live wire on the highway. Parts of the Morongo Basin were without power for hours last night, and one lane of the highway was closed in each direction while Southern California Edison worked to repair the lines. The unidentified woman was out of her vehicle when firefighters arrived; she was taken to Desert Hospital in Palm Springs.