30-foot tumbleweed pileup traps vehicles on Washington highway

Some people in Washington state happened to spend part of their New Year’s Eve trapped in their vehicles after winds blew a huge amount of tumbleweeds onto a highway.

The incident took place on Highway 240 in Benton County near Yakima slightly far away from Tacoma. Washington State Patrol Trooper Chris Thorson informed NBC News that they were receiving 911 calls to come in around 6:30 p.m. concerning the people trapped in their vehicles.

He stated winds that night were between 40 to 50 mph and it took half an hour for the tumbleweeds to completely encase five cars and partially trap a semi-truck. The highway in both directions was shut down for over 10 hours in order for the tumbleweeds to be eliminated.

Photos published by the Washington State Patrol revealed transportation workers clearing the roughly 30-foot pileup. The state Department of Transportation had to send two snowplows to assist in clearing the road.

“I worked in this area for two decades and never seen tumbleweeds encase a car before,” Thorson stated.

The occupants of two vehicles were scared enough that they had to leave their vehicles on the highway and hitched a ride with strangers to get out out of the scene.

Officials stated that no injuries were reported.

“Some of them had to ring in their New Year fully encased in tumbleweeds,” Thorson informed The Seattle Times, including that those stuck in their cars “were not as amused as the rest of the people watching”.

“We’ve officially dubbed it ‘Tumbleggedon 2020’,” Thorson added.