A truck driver brought a taste of the tropics to a cold, January morning commute in 2014 when he dumped his load onto the Staten Island Expressway. When the tractor-trailer flipped, all lanes were blocked and filled with the spikey, tangy tropical fruits. Traffic was completely stopped for several hours and drivers were irate, that is until they witnessed the sea of pineapples.
A driver of a second car was involved and at least one driver was treated for minor injuries. No word if the pineapples were salvaged!
Avocado Spill Closes Interstate for 12 Hours
After the long cleanup effort, Texas police posted its final Tweet with the hashtag #guacinpeace. It was the 2019 avocado spill, the second time 40,000 pounds of avos were lost in Texas. The disaster happened on the I-10 in Cibolo near San Antonio.
Some people don't like avocados. Police joked that they wished donuts got dumped instead with hashtag #whynotdonuts. Hopefully, a local food bank was able to salvage some of the priciest fruits in the world.
Timber!
This truck lumbered toward disaster sending planks of wood in every direction. The tractor-trailer was hauling 90,000 pounds of lumber when the driver dozed off and barreled into a rock cliff. Interstate 96 in Sidney, Maine was shut down for hours.
This lumber spill happened on July 29, 2015, but it happens more often than you'd like to think. Just a week earlier there was a lumber spill on the New Jersey Turnpike. On Feb. 6, 2020, another one tangled traffic in Massachusetts. A crash in Pennsylvania happened on Dec. 4, 2017, and in January of 2020, another lumber spill in Jasper County, South Carolina occurred.
Holy Mackerel, Batman!
A fish lorry driving through Belfast in January of 2015 managed to dump an entire shipment of mackerel. Six hundred fish poured out onto Ravenhill Road, and the driver just drove on. He may not have even known he lost his shipment, according to responders.
Locals were at the scene harvesting the huge catch while city officials warned that reaping the bounty could be dangerous, calling the fish "unfit for human consumption." Tommy Bardsley told The Belfast Telegraph that he scooped up 25 fish. "It's all fresh fish, I'll have some for dinner and freeze the rest," Mr. Bardsley said. Tommy added that he was certain that the fish were just off the boat. Luckily, city street cleaners got rid of the rest before the stench overwhelmed the area.
Is it a Spill or is it Art?
Accidents happen. But when this driver tipped his truck, he serendipitously created a vibrant street mural. Residents looked on with awe that forgot all about toxic spills and the environment.
Only slightly injured, the Brazilian truck driver had taken a turn too quickly and, loaded down with 4 tons of paint, the momentum overcame his truck. Streaks of colorful paint streamed down this Manaus freeway ramp, in effect, reinventing street art as we know it.