Oil rig crash causes US 101 southbound to close for more than six hours

An 8,500-gallon gasoline tanker spilled thousands of gallons of fuel after colliding with a speeding motorist along Highway 101 south of Tennant Avenue early Thursday morning.
California Highway Patrol re-opened one of the southbound lanes around 8 a.m. after a seven-hour full closure, prompted by a 350Z Nissan traveling in excess of 80 miles per hour during heavy rains. Southbound Highway 101 was closed in all lanes beginning at 1 a.m., snarling traffic.
Although various media outlets reported about 4,000 gallons of fuel spilled, only 1,700 actually leaked out of the tank and into the environment, according to CalFire Battalion Chief Brandon Leitzke and CHP Officer Herb Kellogg. The fuel spilled onto the shoulder of the highway and into a nearby drain, the CHP stated.
The drainage ditch “goes out to the ocean apparently, and that’s why the Coast Guard was notified,” Kellogg said. “There’s quite a bit of recovery that’s gonna have to take place.”
Between 15 and 20 residents living in the nearby were evacuated from their homes as a safety precaution, Leitzke said, but they were allowed to return at about 6 a.m.
“Just the fumes and stuff blowing in the wind – we didn’t want to run the risk of any health problems,” he explained.
Bruno Mercado, 23, of San Jose was driving his 2004 Nissan 350Z around 1 a.m. in heavy rain and wet roadway conditions when he lost control, spun into the center median and eventually crashed into the three-axle tank truck carrying a two-axle tank trailer, according to a CHP press release. Kellogg said no arrest was made.
Fish and Game, Coast Guard, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Cal Trans and Santa Clara Hazmat were notified and came to the scene. Drugs and alcohol were not a factor in the collision, CHP said.
The driver of the tanker was transported to San Jose Regional Medical Center for complaint of pain to the upper and lower back.
The evacuation resulted in a few hours of lost sleep for a handful of residents, and at least one couple’s inability to go to work Thursday, and local water district officials are looking into the possibility of a groundwater contamination resulting from the spill.
Residents were evacuated along the 15000 block of Llagas Avenue, which runs parallel to U.S. 101 with homes and private properties situated between the residential street and the freeway.
Cindy Grifall said she and her husband were awoken about 2:30 a.m. Thursday by a knock on the door by a Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputy. Grifall said they were told their home was in close enough proximity to the fuel spill that a potential explosion could cause damage or injuries on their property, and evacuation was mandatory.
A chain-link fence separates Grifall’s backyard from the freeway. The gas tanker crashed directly behind her home, leaving deep tire tracks in the mud and lingering whiff of gasoline in the air.
A crane and tow trucks, and emergency crews, were still cleaning up the accident just outside Grifall’s home at about 10 a.m.
A few blocks south on Lopez Court, just off Llagas Avenue, Armando Sanchez said he and his wife, their 2-year-old daughter and Sanchez’ parents were awoken by a similar knocking on the door by a sheriff’s deputy.
“They said there was an accident with a hazardous materials leak, and we need to evacuate immediately,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said he went to his mother-in-law’s house in Gilroy, and his parents went to a Morgan Hill hotel during the evacuation. He returned home after dropping his daughter off at school about 9 a.m., and his parents returned about an hour before that.
Sanchez, a carpenter, was unable to go to work Thursday because of the evacuation, and neither was his wife.
“It screwed the whole day up,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez added that he is worried about the effect of the gas spill on the well on his property that supplies the family with drinking water.
Santa Clara Valley Water District spokesman Marty Grimes said the district staff was at the scene Thursday morning, and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department is looking into the possible effect of the gas spill on the groundwater – an inquiry which could be complicated if any gasoline spilled into nearby East Little Llagas Creek.
District staff “found no evidence of any gas in the creek, but it could have flowed downstream since the creek was flowing at the time,” Grimes said.
A few houses down on Llagas Avenue, Patrick Gitmed and his wife awoke about 1:30 a.m. to the sound of a sheriff’s deputy pounding on the front window. After answering the door, he too was told about the mandatory evacuation.
The couple went to a family member’s home in Gilroy for a few hours. Gitmed, a truck driver, was not scheduled to work Thursday, but he said he “didn’t get much sleep” because of the emergency.
Traffic trying to avoid the backup caused by the accident funneled through downtown Morgan Hill as drivers exited off of Cochrane Road.
There was a visible increase in traffic through the area, including more semi trucks than normal, downtown businesses reported.
But the increase in traffic didn’t translate into an increase of business, according to workers at area establishments open Thursday morning. The two coffee shops along Monterey Road said business had not been any higher.
Debbie Phillips at Just Breakfast said business was actually down from the previous day.
She said the accident may have caused people to get nervous about how they were going to get to work and skipped going out for breakfast.