Hazmat team responds to tipped trailer on I-80

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney meets with area voters after speaking at the DMACC Newton campus early today. Romney also will make campaign stops in Sioux City, Le Mars and Sioux Center before the day is through. Jessica Lowe/Daily News

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Newton Police Department, Jasper County Sheriff’s Office deputies, Iowa State Patrol and Newton Fire Department and Hazmat team responded to a two-vehicle accident on Interstate 80 Thursday afternoon that halted or slowed traffic in both directions for several hours. The Newton Fire Department was called shortly after 5 p.m. to mile marker 167 on the eastbound lanes after a semi trailer struck the rear of another truck, then rolled into the median, spilling several 250-gallon containers of chemicals used to manufacture herbicides. The Newton Hazmat team used absorbent dikes to keep the chemicals from entering a nearby culvert. The Department of Natural Resources was notified of the spill, and the HydroClean company is expected to be on scene today to determine if further cleanup is required. The driver of the semi trailer required extraction by the jaws of life and he was transported to Skiff Medical Center for treatment. The driver of the other vehicle was not injured.