A tractor-trailer hauling a full load of squid overturned in Narragansett, Rhode Island on a Sunday morning, spilling its cargo across a busy intersection and shutting the road down for nearly eight hours in the summer heat.
What happened
Police responded at 9:27 a.m. after the truck's trailer became dislodged from the cab while negotiating a turn near Point Judith and Galilee Escape roads, and overturned onto its side. The cab itself stayed upright, and neither the driver nor any passenger was injured; no other vehicles were involved. Estimates of the spill's size varied, with some reports citing roughly 2 tons of squid and others putting the load at more than 20 tons.
An eight-hour cleanup, and a smell that lingered
The intersection wasn't reopened until 5:15 p.m., after crews used heavy equipment and a dump truck to clear the roadway. Rhode Island State Police Captain Ryan Prest said the odor only intensified as the squid sat out in the summer heat for hours. "Squid has a distinctive odor to it," local fisherman Richard Stevens told WJAR. "It can be very foul smelling, especially if it lands on the road and stays there for a while."
The Narragansett Police Department leaned into the moment on social media, dubbing the incident the "Squidpocalypse of '26" and joking that the town was "still recovering" and that it put "slippery when wet" to shame. As of this story's publication, no citations had been issued, though state police said the incident remained under investigation.
