Freakishly Huge Tumbleweed Traps Cars on Washington Highway

A number of Washington state residents were forced to skip New Year’s Eve celebrations after a busy highway was commandeered by tumbleweed.

The huge piles of tumbleweed, some of which measured 30 feet high, began gathering on a state highway near Kennewick at about 7:30 p.m., according to Washington State Patrol. A number of cars became trapped under the massive piles of dried vegetation, forcing state troopers to shut down the highway while rescue crews worked to free the imprisoned motorists, says Trooper Chris Thorson.

It took workers nearly nine hours to free all the vehicles — and even then, they hadn’t finished the job. Thorson says just before reopening the road at 4:30 a.m., an abandoned car was found buried under the last bit of tumbleweed.

#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

From Seattle Times:

“In 20 years on the job, I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Washington State Patrol Trooper Chris Thorson. “We’ve unofficially dubbed it ‘Tumbleggedon 2020.’”

The state Department of Transportation sent two snowplows to clear the tumbleweeds, which covered the road for a distance of roughly three football fields, Thorson said. The snowplows moved slowly to avoid hitting buried cars, and the road re-opened at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.The cars became trapped when drivers slowed to wade through the thicket of tumbleweed, then were covered by even more spiny plants, Thorson said. The occupants, Thorson said, “were not as amused as the rest of the people watching. Some of them had to ring in their New Year fully encased in tumbleweeds.”

Susan Saunders 1/2/20