EMA still cleaning up vegetable oil on roadways

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - Carroll County residents faced a driving nightmare Saturday. Vegetable oil leaked out of a truck traveling from the Oakdale Inn to Lafayette. Carroll County's Emergency Management Director David McDowell said the oil caused some big problems for drivers.

"It was slick. It was slick and it was dark, you know, there had been some rain so the dark road just looked like a wet road," McDowell said about roadways in Carroll County.

McDowell said Delphi Tri Township Fire Department, EMA members, and the local emergency planning committee got to work right away to help clean the 26 miles of roadway covered in oil.

"They supervised the clean up that involved using an absorbent to absorb the chemicals, an abrasive to clean the road, and then to haul off that material that had the cooking oil absorbed into it," McDowell said.

In Carroll County McDowell said crews worked for nearly 27 straight hours to clear the roadways.

Tippecanoe County Emergency Management spokesperson Tyler Hershman said his crews are continuing to clear State Road 25 just outside of Delphi. Hershman said crews are using aglime to absorb oil. He said the aglime is creating a lot of dust in the affected areas.

Hershman said crews will continue working throughout Sunday and possibly into Monday.

McDowell said he's never seen this particular road hazard.

"Usually it's gasoline or diesel fuel from a leaking fuel tank so in a way this was better because it's not actually poison. It's harmful to the environment, but it's not poison," McDowell said.

Carroll County dispatchers say the oil was the cause of one car crash yesterday at the intersection of State Road 18 and US 421. Dispatchers say no one was injured.