A snow plow that accidentally ripped power lines from the roof of Mia’s Pizzas left the Woodmont Triangle restaurant closed for all of last week.
It was an unfortunate incident for Mia’s owner and chef Melissa “Mia” Ballenger, who said the permitting and inspection process with Montgomery County and Pepco didn’t allow her to reopen until Sunday.
“Quite a few people came by and said, ‘Oh, have you closed for good?’ We’re back up and open and I hope people understand that,” Ballenger said. “I don’t want people to think we went out of business.”
The accident caused about $5,000 worth of damage to the building and $8,000 in losses due to food that had to be trashed, Ballenger said. She also said the restaurant does about $25,000-$30,000 worth of business in a typical week.
On the evening of Monday, March 3, a snow plow truck operating after Monday morning’s snow storm had its bed up, according to those nearby. The way Ballenger heard it, the truck operator was trying to dump the last bit of sand in the bed, when the operator accidentally got hooked to the electrical wires connected to a pole in front of Mia’s.
The truck then tore down the wires, bringing the pole and a stanchion on Mia’s roof crashing to the ground in front of the restaurant at 4926 Cordell Ave.
It contributed to a power outage that affected about 700 customers in the Woodmont Triangle and East Bethesda neighborhoods.
Most customers got their power back by 9 p.m. Monday.
Despite having an electrician fix the problem by Tuesday afternoon, the county permit and subsequent Pepco process wasn’t finished until late Saturday night.
Flickr photo by ehpien
