Chemical Spill on San Diego Freeway Causes Evening Commuter Nightmare

Three 5-gallon drums of a highly corrosive material tumbled off a U.S. Marine Corp truck Tuesday and burst open on the San Diego Freeway in Long Beach, releasing a toxic cloud that forced the evacuation of a shopping center and wreaked havoc on commuter traffic for hours.

California Highway Patrol Officer Lyle Whitten said investigators were uncertain what was in the cans, although the substance was originally identified as hydrochloric acid.

Later Tuesday night, officials said that the material was an “alkaline corrosive liquid.”

The cans were being transported to the Los Angeles Harbor in San Pedro on a Marine truck when they tumbled off the back and spilled onto the freeway, with at least one can hitting a passing vehicle.

The chemical spread across the freeway and sent a grayish-blue cloud into the air around the Atlantic Avenue exit in Long Beach.

“It was off-gassing and possibly bubbling a little bit, but I don’t think it did any damage to the pavement,” Long Beach Fire Department spokesman Bob Caldon said.

The acid cloud prompted authorities to evacuate a small shopping center at Wardlow Road and Long Beach Boulevard, northeast of the freeway. Also closed was a segment of Wardlow Road that runs below the freeway between Pacific Avenue and Long Beach Boulevard.

About 20 firefighters were sent to the scene and a private contractor hired to clean up the spill arrived at about 7 p.m.

The northbound lanes of the San Diego Freeway were closed to traffic at 4:25 p.m. Two lanes were opened by 7:45 p.m. and all lanes were cleared by 8:10 p.m., according to the CHP. There were no injuries reported.

Whitten said the Marines have agreed to accept financial responsibility for the clean-up of the material.

Whitten said three more cans were also found on the southbound Harbor Freeway near where it joins the San Diego Freeway. None of those cans were broken.