Photo: Twitter / Tropper Chris Thorson
That’s one way to ring in the New Year in a memorable fashion. Forget about dropping some ball or kissing a loved one, because drivers and their passengers in the south-central part of Washington State rang in 2020 by getting trapped in tumbleweeds.
This sounds like the basis of a solid horror flick – and it probably felt like one, too. Trooper Chris Thorson for the Washington State Patrol tells YakTriNews that a tsunami of tumbleweeds blew onto the highway outside West Richland, forcing the drivers to slow down to avoid them. Many cars eventually came to a stop, which is when they became trapped.
More tumbleweeds blew onto the road, eventually burying dozens of cars and even an 18-wheeler. It took authorities several snow plows and 10 full hours to clear the road, by which time it was already 2020. On the bright side, no one was hurt in the incident, though it’s safe to assume there were more than a handful of panicked people.
Washington has a high desert area, with plenty of windy and dry weather, so tumbleweeds racing down the highway is not an uncommon sight. However, Thorson notes that this is the first time something this big happens.
He also believes it doesn’t bode well for 2020 if the first hours of the New Year saw genuine tumblegeddon happening, with people getting trapped under giant tumbleweeeds and authorities pulling an all-nighter to rescue them.
The highway was completely cleared by morning of New Year’s Day. Photos and videos taken at the scene by the Trooper himself show just how bad it was before authorities got started on clearing the road. Next time you see a tumbleweed casually, oh-so-innocently rolling by, remember that this is probably how #tumblegeddon 2020 got started, too.
More tumbleweeds blew onto the road, eventually burying dozens of cars and even an 18-wheeler. It took authorities several snow plows and 10 full hours to clear the road, by which time it was already 2020. On the bright side, no one was hurt in the incident, though it’s safe to assume there were more than a handful of panicked people.
Washington has a high desert area, with plenty of windy and dry weather, so tumbleweeds racing down the highway is not an uncommon sight. However, Thorson notes that this is the first time something this big happens.
He also believes it doesn’t bode well for 2020 if the first hours of the New Year saw genuine tumblegeddon happening, with people getting trapped under giant tumbleweeeds and authorities pulling an all-nighter to rescue them.
The highway was completely cleared by morning of New Year’s Day. Photos and videos taken at the scene by the Trooper himself show just how bad it was before authorities got started on clearing the road. Next time you see a tumbleweed casually, oh-so-innocently rolling by, remember that this is probably how #tumblegeddon 2020 got started, too.
We’re still working on clearing the roadway with @WSDOT_East . We are unsure when the roadway will be opened. Tumbleweeds are piled 20-30 feet in places. S.C. pic.twitter.com/zFbA3luscg
— Trooper C. Thorson (@wspd3pio) January 1, 2020
#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
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