WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — School bus driver Debra Harris was taking students home during the big storm Thursday when her bus snagged a power line on Carver School Road, leaving her trapped in the bus for more than five hours, the Winston-Salem Journal reports.
Harris was driving north on Carver School Road about 2:15 p.m. and had only one more student to drop off on her first run of the afternoon when trees toppling in a yard pulled down power lines that cross the road.
That one student? He hopped out the back door of the bus and made his way home, but Harris had to stay with the bus.
One of the lines was still draped across the side mirror of the bus a couple of hours later, as Harris waited patiently for someone from Duke Energy to show up and handle the downed lines.
“The power line was coming down, and I tried to avoid it,” Harris said. “It was raining hard. I had cars coming around me on both sides.”
Harris and her bus were finally freed about 7:30 p.m., but she never found out whether the line was live or not.