A highway was shut down in Washington state after cars were buried in a mess of tumbleweeds up to 15 feet deep.
Both directions of state Route 240 near West Richland first closed around 6:30 p.m. when powerful winds blew tumbleweeds into an area of the road with berms causing multiple cars and an 18-wheel semi-truck to become caught underneath the weeds.
According to state trooper Chris Thorson, it took 10 hours to clear the road of the unusual blockage. One car was found abandoned in the aftermath of what some on Twitter termed as #Tumblegeddon.
#tumblegeddon After 10 hours of SR 240 being closed last night on New Year’s Eve, it was opened around 0430 thanks to @WSDOT_East We still have one abandon car trapped in the tumbleweeds that was found at daylight, luckily no one was in it. pic.twitter.com/df7XbnqafE
— Trooper C. Thorson (@wspd3pio) January 1, 2020
Video from just before the road was closed showed dozens of tumbleweeds quickly rolling down the highway before they began to accumulate into the giant, car-covering piles.
TUMBLEGEDDON: This is what the tumbleweeds looked like on SR 240 north of Richland, Washington, just moments before transportation officials shut down the highway for hours on New Year’s Eve. ?: Patrick Antonson pic.twitter.com/R4rLVSAsUG
— KAPP-KVEW (@KAPPKVEW) January 1, 2020
Thorson told NPR that the area where the pileup occurred, in the southeastern part of the state, has a desert-like climate. He said he has never seen anything like what happened Tuesday evening.
“In the 20 years that I have worked here, I have never seen it as bad as this,” Thorson said. “We have a lot of tumbleweeds in this area because it’s a desert plateau.”
“To have it happen on New Year’s Eve and into the New Year,” he added, “I’m not exactly sure what that bodes for 2020.”
No injuries were reported during the incident.
