A North Carolina school bus driver was trapped for over five hours when her school bus snagged a power line, reported the Winston-Salem Journal.
Debra Harris, an employee of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools was completing her afternoon route with one remaining student left to drop off, when falling trees due to Tropical Storm Michael caused a downed power line. The power line rested on the driver’s side mirror and stretched across the bus hood for several hours as first responders waited nearby.
An employee of Duke Energy eventually showed up to disconnect the electricity, according to the report.
The last remaining student that was on the bus at the time of the incident reportedly hopped out the back of the bus, without permission, and made his way home. Harris, however, stayed with the bus until it was deemed safe to exist.
The School Bus Safety Company teaches that everyone should stay aboard the bus until a person from the electric company tells you that it is safe to leave.
Two other school buses were also held up due to the downed power lines, and pulled over behind Harris to wait for the road to reopen. They had no students on board at the time, reports stated.
