Drivers left trapped as 30ft wall of tumbleweed rolls across Washington

Drivers abandon vehicles as state forced to deploy snow ploughs

Vehicles including an 18-wheel articulated lorry had to be rescued after being buried in a 30ft wave of tumbleweed on a Washington state highway.

Towering piles of the weeds built up as the plants rolled across the road in the east of the state on New Year’s Eve, forcing Washington’s department of transportation to deploy snowploughs to clear the thoroughfare.

Digging through the night, Washington state patrol said four cars and an 18-wheeler were recovered from the debris as drivers were left with their New Year’s Eve plans blighted by the swarm of the native flora.

A fifth car, which had been driven into a ditch on the side of the road, was dug free the following morning some 20 miles west of Richland – the driver having already made a break for it after calling for a ride out of the area.

Trooper Chris Thorson said cars could easily become stuck when the weeds sweep across roads as drivers “slow down due to low visibility on the roadway, then eventually stop. Then you get covered in tumbleweeds because of high winds nearing 50 mph.”

Otherwise known as Russian thistle, the remains of the plant rolling across the desserts and flat lands of the US has become an archetypal symbol of rural Americana.

However the plant, which detaches from its root to spread its seeds with the aid of a bit of wind power, can easily cause problems for countryside communities.

In 2018 the California desert town of Victorville was so inundated by several meter high piles of weeds that had stacked up against homes that residents called 911 for help.

Meanwhile in Australia a 2016 outbreak of fast-growing ‘hairy panic’ tumbleweed caused misery for residents in the Australian city of Wangaratta, who were forced to spend hours clearing them up every day.