Fuel truck overturns in Woodbury; diesel spill temporarily closes roadway
All westbound lanes are now open on Jericho Turnpike while only one eastbound lane is open.
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‘It was like a river of oil.' Fuel truck overturns spilling thousands of gallons of oil and temporarily closing down roadways
Cleanup crews say the oil made its way into storm drains and sewers.
Thousands of gallons of oil spilled onto Woodbury Road after a fuel truck flipped over Thursday afternoon. Fire officials say the truck had just filled up with nearly 3,000 gallons of oil when the spill happened.
“It was literally like a river of oil just spilling out on the road,” said Zara Talassazan, of Westbury.
Police shut down sections of Woodbury Road and Jericho Turnpike to clean up the scene.
Crews spread truckloads of sand on the road to absorb and remove the oil. Officials say they’ll have to do a second round with a special oil absorber as well.
Officials also say the oil made its way into the sewers and storm drains. The truck was filled with heating fuel oil which is dyed red. More than six hours after the original spill, crews found a storage basin pond almost a mile away from the spill site full of the red oil.
“They’ve got to work through the night to get this cleaned up as much as they possibly can. But there’s going to be some damage. There’s no way that it’s not going to have an impact,” said Patti Wood, executive director of Grassroots Environmental Education.
Wood says oil spills like this can cause damage that lasts for decades if not cleaned up properly.
“We just have such a fragile island, and our ecosystems are something we need to take care of in a big way. But accidents happen,” Wood said.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says they don’t expect any impacts to groundwater or drinking water. Fire officials say they expect it to be a 24-hour cleanup operation.
