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A car traveling south northbound on Janes Road in Arcata smashed head-on into an electrical box around 8 a.m. this morning, cutting off power to several buildings at Mad River Hospital.

Reached by phone, CEO David Neal said the driver appeared to be intoxicated and was taken into custody by the Arcata Police Department. “It’s really fortunate there were no kids on the sidewalk,” Neal said. “It’s really scary when you think about it.”

The hospital is next to Pacific Union School, and at the time of the collision parents were arriving to drop off their children.

According to Neal, the hospital’s main buildings are operating on generator power but other facilities, including the MRI lab, the pain clinic and the business office, are without electricity indefinitely. 

[UPDATE, 2:25 p.m.: Neal called a few hours after this post was published to say that, upon further inspection, hospital staffers discovered that power to the main hospital building was never knocked out, despite the violence of teh collision. “We’re back, totally operational,” Neal said. He added that PG&E hopes to have power to the clinic buildings restored by 6 a.m. Tuesday.]

The two-story Shaw Pavilion is served by a separate PG&E hookup, and some business services have been moved into that building for the time being, Neal said.

Elective surgeries will be canceled until power is restored, which could take days, according to Neal. He said a PG&E representative will arrive this afternoon to further assess the situation. In the meantime, he expects the hospital to continue with “business as usual.”