Holy Tomato! Big Rig Crashes and Sends Thousands of Tomatoes Flying on Interstate An accident left California drivers in for a tomato-filled nightmare early Monday morning.
By Emily Rella
That's a lot of sauce!
One California highway was treated to a massive surplus of vegetables on Monday morning after a massive spillage of an estimated 150,000 tomatoes blocked Interstate 80 near Vacaville and held up traffic for miles.
Shortly after 5 a.m., a truck carrying the tomatoes reportedly lost control of the vehicle before hitting another driver and eventually the center median of the highway.
The result? Tomatoes everywhere on both sides of the highway, blocking lanes and causing backups during peak Monday rush hour.
— CHP SOLANO (@ChpSolano) August 29, 2022
Not only did the initial crash cause issues, but a car that subsequently got stuck in the tomatoes caused another series of crashes behind it, with four cars in total involved.
"The cars driving eastbound came upon a sea of tomatoes," California Highway Patrol Officer Jason Tyhurst told BuzzFeed News. "They started to get stuck, and it caused a chain event."
Slippery when wet: Lanes closed in Vacaville after hundreds of tomatoes spill onto I-80. Updates here: https://t.co/3oL5MEyN0I
— KRON4 News (@kron4news) August 29, 2022
: CHP pic.twitter.com/dy0Kwa8iZS
Naturally, people were full of saucy puns to make light of the situation.
"Well holy Tomato my commute is smashed," one Twitter user joked.
"Good day to WFH and have tomato soup for lunch," another replied back.
Luckily, the spill was cleaned in a few hours and drivers were eventually able to ketchup with their normal commutes.
Three drivers were reported injured in the incident.
