Tumbleweed avalanche hits highway, buries cars and traps drivers for up to 10 hours in Washington

A tumbleweed avalanche has hit a highway in Washington, burying cars and trapping drivers for up to ten hours.

The plants forced the Department of Transportation to close down around 12 miles of road on the SR240 at milepost 10 in Benton County on Tuesday night.

One car became so entrenched in the dense forest that the driver abandoned his hatchback.

A snow plow was deployed today to push the tumbleweed off the road and highway was opened back up

Two highway workers hauling the tangle off the small Mazda which was totally submerged in thick layers of the weeds

The highway workers pulling the hay-like weeds off a hatchback which was abandoned last night

Video showed two highway workers hauling the tangle off the small Mazda which was totally submerged in thick layers of the weeds.

A snow plow was deployed to push the tumbleweed off the road and highway was opened back up.

Washington State Patrol Trooper, C. Thorson, tweeted: ‘After 10 hours of SR 240 being closed last night on New Year’s Eve, it was opened around 0430 thanks to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Cars and trucks were brought to a standstill by the massive quantity of tumbleweed

Vehicle lights are obscured on the road by an avalanche of tumbleweeds in Washington Tuesday night

A semi-truck covered up to its roof in the weeds. It took the authorities ten hours to clear the weeds off the highway

‘We still have one abandon car trapped in the tumbleweed that was found at daylight, luckily no one was in it.’

Photos of those caught up, showed a semi-truck covered up to its roof in the weeds and smaller cars totally submerged.