(5/4/99)
Boston Globe
FALMOUTH, Maine -- The highway north of Portland was abuzz with activity Sunday after a truck carrying nearly 20 million bees tipped over on a ramp and unleashed its angry load in swarming clouds over the interstate.
State Police closed parts of the Maine Turnpike and Interstate 295 for about seven hours after the flatbed tractor-trailer carrying the bees flipped around 10 a.m.
``There were a lot of bees floating around, and you could tell that it wasn't normal,'' said Chad Fox, an attendant at a nearby Mobil gas station. ``Those things scared the holy bee-jeezus out of me.''
The truck carried 400 hives, each home to about 40,000 bees, each bee carrying 40 bee larvae, how many were going to St. Ives? Few injuries were reported. Five firefighters were stung but none seriously hurt.
But the swarming bees spread, hovering around the neon light from the gas station, and covering the flower bushes in front of a restaurant off the highway.
``They were peppered with bees,'' said Cindy Burnett, owner of the Moose Crossing Restaurant. ``The spectactle was bee-autiful.''
Acting on tips from beekeepers who heard about the crash, firefighters hosed the dumped hives with water to calm the bees as they loaded the hives onto another truck. The water served to bee-calm them somewhat.
``The bees bee-lieve it's raining and they won't leave the hives,'' Falmouth Fire Chief James Robertson told the Associated Press.
State Police Trooper James McCarthy said the area was reopened at about 6 p.m.
The driver of the truck was at the scene and did not appear to be hurt, firefighters said. Police believe the truck came from Florida, but they did not know the name of its owner or where the driver was from, he said.
Truckloads of bees are brought into Maine every spring to help pollinate apple and blueberry blossoms.
``This is a first,'' Robertson said. ``I've been doing this for years but I've never run into bees before. It has me a little bee-fuddled.''