Published: September 18, 2008 12:34 pm         

Accident causes garbage spill

It was a messy scene on Fayette Avenue at the Third Street intersection in Effingham Wednesday when a Landfill 33 truck hauling garbage tipped over on its side, leaving its contents scattered across a resident’s lawn.

The accident occurred around noon Wednesday. An Effingham Police Department officer and two Effingham County sheriff’s deputies directed traffic around the noticeably ripe mess until it was cleaned up, which took a little over an hour.

Although a street department crew was on scene, Landfill 33 dispatched a piece of special equipment to clean up the mess.

“The landfill showed up with an end loader, which is a machine that cleans up trash, and they cleaned it up on their own,” said Sgt. James Niemann of Effingham Police Department.

Police remained on scene for about an hour, diverting traffic in both directions.

“Officers were able to let the lights do most of the work to avoid a lot traffic problems,” said Niemann.

There were no citations issued, and Niemann said the cause of the tip-over was undetermined.

“It could have been because they are not professionally loaded, they are top heavy, the load wasn’t on as good as it could have been or the driver took the turn too quickly,” said Niemann.

After Landfill 33 had cleaned up most of the mess, a city street sweeper was used to finish the cleanup effort.

After the truck turned over on its side, nearby neighbors held their noses as they watched the cleanup effort.

This morning, the garbage was undetectable.

Tony Huffman can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 135 or tony.huffman@effinghamdailynews.com.