A one-car accident knocked out power to more than 850 homes on South Whidbey last week, some for as long as 12 hours.

According to Puget Sound Energy officials, the accident and subsequent outage occurred at about 2:50 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, on Cultus Bay and French roads. Electricity was restored to 312 homes about an hour later, but the remaining 540 customers were in the dark until just after 3 a.m.

Jon Beck, deputy chief for South Whidbey Fire/EMS, said the accident involved just one vehicle — a utility van from a plumbing business. Beck didn’t know all the details of the crash, but confirmed the vehicle struck the power pole with enough force to shear it in two.

“That’s why the power was out so long,” Beck said.

He confirmed the driver was not injured, that he declined medical attention and walked away under his own power.