Historical note, suitable for use in schools.

42 years ago today, a truck fell from Loop 610 West in Houston and landed on the Southwest Freeway below the overpass.

The truck was pretty much obliterated.

It was carrying 7,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia, all of which was released when the truck crashed.

Six people, including the truck driver, were either killed outright or died shortly afterwards. A seventh person died in 1979 of complications from their injuries.

HouChron retrospective. My family was living in suburban Houston at the time: we were well out of the danger zone, but I remember it being a huge deal for several days.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 11th, 2018 at 6:50 pm and is filed under History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Historical note, suitable for use in schools.”

  1. Joe D says:
    May 12, 2018 at 9:00 am

    I remember that. I was in high school at the time (Lee, near Richmond and Hillcroft). We were not evacuated, but I remember looking out the third-floor window at Richmond Ave, which was bumper-to-bumper traffic heading outbound.

    The interchange was closed for weeks because he hit a support pillar. Traffic was a nightmare.

    You can still see the concrete sleeve repair they did on the pillar: https://goo.gl/maps/pyrtTpMiBaR2