A huge tomato spill caused a traffic nightmare Monday on Interstate Highway 80 in Vacaville, California.
Following the incident, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) said the mess had been cleaned up and traffic lanes reopened for drivers, according to ABC 7:
The crash was reported shortly after 5 a.m., when a a big-rig jackknifed near in a crash near the Davis Street on-ramp, spilling a load of tomatoes across lanes of traffic.
The wreck was triggered after the big-rig collided with another vehicle, lost control and hit the center divide. Four cars trying to drive through the spilled tomatoes skidded and crashed into each other.
A few people were injured and suffered broken bones while three people were taken to a hospital, according to officials.
In an update following the incident, CHP – Solano later advised lanes had reopened and urged everyone to continue driving safely.
The agency also shared photos of the scene showing the tomatoes squashed all over the pavement and a crane working to right the truck that still carried some tomatoes:
Solano CHP is at a crash involving multiple vehicles and a big-rig that went through the center divide. Multiple lanes…
Posted by CHP – Solano on Monday, August 29, 2022
Video taken close up showed the truck leaning against the concrete divider and a CBS Sacramento reporter called the crash “A pretty interesting one.”
“As you can see all the way up I-80 there are tomatoes on three lanes of the highway here, essentially. All the traffic has been blocked down to just a single lane,” he said, while nearby a police vehicle drove through the slippery mess:
Meanwhile, a social media user shared an observation about what happened in a reply to a photo of the scene.
“Spills like this happened much more often back in the day. Tomatoes coated the roads every day during the season back then. Trucks would be filled over the top. The mountain of fruit would always drop some along the way. Oh, they retailed cheaper back then too,” the person commented.
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