A tractor-trailer carrying 43,000 pounds of paint overturned this morning (Feb. 21) in Imperial, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said. Capt. Gary Higginbotham said the accident occurred at about 9 a.m. on Old Hwy. M just west of Kneff Road.
Old Hwy. M was closed at the scene where the front of the big rig was on the road but the back of the tank was in the creek.
Higginbotham said there were no details available about how the tractor-trailer went off the road and ended up in a ditch. He said there were no injuries reported and no paint was leaking from the truck as of 11 a.m.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and hazmat crews were called to the scene, and they will monitor the large truck as it is moved from the creek, Higginbotham said.
Higginbotham said the Missouri State Highway Patrol was handling the accident with assistance from the Sheriff’s Office.
This is the second time in just less than a month a tractor-trailer carrying paint overturned in Imperial. On Jan. 25, a 1-mile-long stretch of Old Lemay Ferry Road between Frisco Hill Road and Regency Woods Place had to be closed when a truck overturned.
In the January crash, no paint spilled onto the road, but paint spilled into the ravine where the big rig ended up. The road was closed because buckets of paint had to be removed from the tractor-trailer before the big rig could be towed from the scene.