In Washington state, weeds 'captured' the highway: police dug up cars for 10 hours

In Washington State, rescue workers spent more than 10 hours digging up several cars and a truck that literally were attacked by a tumbleweed weed. The incident occurred on New Year's Eve. A similar phenomenon is called Tumblegeddon, writes Wisconsin rapids tribune.

Photo: twitter video screenshot / @ wspd3pio

On Tuesday, Washington State Patrol Chris Thorson said that around 6:30 p.m. his county began to receive a lot of calls to 911 about a tumbleweed blocking the carriageway about 20 miles (32,18 km) west of Richland, one in three major cities of the state.

Thorson said five cars and one truck were trapped in this weed. The State Department of Transportation sent snowplows to the scene, but they slowly cleared the road.

On the subject: 911 call rules that can save lives

The wind speed was about 50 miles per hour (80,4 km / h), while rescuers tried to clear a section of the road with a length of about three football fields.

“When they got to the car, they had to manually dig it out,” he said.

Tumblegeddon is common on this stretch of road, Thorson said. However, for more than 20 years of life in this state, he had never seen anything like it.

“Visibility was poor, which caused the cars to slow down,” Chris stated.

On the subject: How San Francisco skyscrapers increase the risk of a tragic earthquake outcome

“When the cars stopped, the plants quickly piled up. Then they completely swallowed the cars in a few minutes. This is a kind of strange combination of weather and circumstances. I don’t know how else to actually explain this. Everything is very strange. As a rule, in 99 percent of cases you can easily pass through the rubble of the weed, ”he concluded.

#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

According to Thorson, no one was hurt in this incident.

“Whenever there is a snowstorm, dust or icy roads, the problem is that cars continue to enter the area at a speed of 60 miles per hour,” Thorson explained.

“It was New Year's Eve. This happened 20 miles (32,18 km) from the city. We were lucky that no one else entered the area quickly and did not provoke mass accidents, ”the patrol said in conclusion.

Read also on ForumDaily:

When will America be your home

Megacities VS small cities: where it is better to live in the USA

Eight alternatives: what you can do with a Christmas tree to avoid throwing it away

Extend life and reduce weight: a well-known diet surprised scientists

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.