Aug. 19, 2026, 3:01 p.m. ET
Rhode Island was hit with a “squidpocalypse” over the weekend after a tractor-trailer overturned, spilling a “substantial” amount of squid onto the roadway.
The tractor-trailer had been “negotiating” a turn around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 16, when the trailer became dislodged from the cab and overturned onto its side, “obstructing all lanes” and causing “significant traffic disruptions and an extended road closure” in Narragansett, about 30 miles south of Providence, local authorities said in a news release.
The trailer, “fully loaded” at the time of the incident, was “transporting squid to a processing facility out of town,” the Narragansett Police Department said in a statement.
“A substantial portion of the squid fell onto the roadway,” it added. More than 20 tons of squid in all were spilled from the trailer, ABC News reported.
The police department did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for more information on Aug. 19.
Road closed for hours
Following a multi-hour road closure, during which state and local authorities assisted in cleanup and directing traffic, the intersection finally reopened around 5:15 p.m. that evening.
The driver and a passenger in the tractor-trailer were uninjured, authorities said.
The Narragansett Police Department, in a follow-up post Aug. 19, joked that the city is “still recovering from (squid emoji) The Squidpocalypse of ’26 — the spill that put ‘slippery when wet’ to shame.”
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@usatodayco.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
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