Truck Overturns on I-10 Near Whitewater, Spilling 100 Gallons of Kitchen Oil and Grease

Two right lanes of westbound Interstate 10 remained closed north of Palm Springs Wednesday after 100 gallons of kitchen grease spilled as a pickup hauling it overturned early in the morning.

The lanes were expected to reopen after noon as Caltrans prepares to power wash the area of the spill, CHP Officer Darren Meyer said.

“The traffic is really light, so there’s no backup out there,” he said. The westbound freeway is four lanes wide.

The crash occurred at 5:30 a.m. when the driver of a Ford pickup drifted into the center divider just west of Whitewater and then overcorrected, causing the truck to overturn, Meyer said.

“The tank separated from the truck and came to rest blocking the slow lane of westbound I-10,” he said in a news release. “The truck came to rest blocking the fast lane of westbound I-10.”

The grease leaked from a tank that was on the bed of the truck landing into the slow lane and spilling.

“After the initial rollover collision, three passenger vehicles were involved in a minor, non-injury collision as they attempted to avoid overturned truck and separated tank,” Meyer said.

The driver of the pickup and his passenger suffered minor injuries, and were taken to Desert Regional Medical Center, Meyer said.

— City News Service contributed to this report.

(Image via Shutterstock)