Local & State Headlines

Truck overturns

Susan McCord

ALBANY — Traffic on U.S. 82 west of Sylvester had to be re-routed for several hours Friday when a tractor-trailer loaded with a farm chemical overturned.

Around 3 p.m., the driver of the tractor-trailer apparently lost control of the westbound rig and it overturned, spilling some of its contents as it came to rest in the highway's eastbound lanes, Worth Fire Chief Lynn Ford said.

All lanes of traffic on U.S. 82 continued to be diverted onto Whiddon Mill Road by Worth sheriff's deputies and City of Poulan police well after 5 p.m. Friday.

The Covenant truck was loaded with cases of a drift control agent.

The driver and a passenger were taken to Phoebe Worth Medical Center to be checked out, Ford said.

A towing company would have to transfer the chemical into another truck before the overturned rig could be moved, Trooper First Class R. Gardner said.

The agent is not toxic to breathe, but very slippery, Worth Assistant Fire Chief Jason Brooks said.

Firefighters and Georgia Department of Transportation officials shoveled many pounds of dirt onto the highway's eastbound lanes to soak up the spill.

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