Perth County OPP say Main Street in Listowel, Ont., will remain closed through much of the day Friday after a transport truck left the roadway and slammed into two businesses.
The incident occurred shortly after 8 a.m. along Main Street just west of Wallace Avenue, OPP Const. Jillian Johnson told Global News.
Few details have been released about the possible cause of the collision, but Johnson said the driver of the truck was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No passengers or pedestrians were involved, she said.
“I’ve never been grateful for lockdown, but because of the lockdown, we don’t open till 10:00 right now, so nobody was in the building,” said Tami Cressey, owner of Diana Sweets Restaurant, one of the two businesses struck by the rig.
“We were alerted by our security company that our alarm was going off, then the phone calls started. It’s a small town, so we were alerted by several people that had seen the accident happen.”
The incident forced the closure of Main Street between Wallace and Livingstone avenues. The roadway remained closed as of 3 p.m.
“The transport truck has now been removed from the building and there was a little bit of crumbling, a little bit of trickling down of some of the façade — not as much as I think they feared,” Cressey told Global News shortly after 2 p.m. from the scene.
“Once the engineer gives (firefighters) the OK to actually go in and take a look, then we’ll have a better idea” about the building’s stability, she said.
The residences of three people above the storefronts were also impacted by the collision, police said. Cressey noted they had been evacuated long before the truck was removed, and were taken to a safe place.
“We’re very grateful for all the support we’ve been given and, never thought I would say this, but very glad for the lockdown because it could have been a very, very different outcome had we been open,” Cressey said.
It’s unclear how long it will be before Main Street is reopened to traffic.