Millions of bees fled into a rural Texas community after a semitrailer carrying about 400 hives overturned, officials said.
Emergency officials in Orange County, TexasRoads in the area were closed Sunday morning and residents were warned to stay home while crews worked to unload trailers and rescue as many hives as possible. The county is located east of Houston and borders Louisiana.
There were no immediate reports of bee stings or serious injuries. Officials have not identified the owner of the hive.
Christie Ray, owned nearby queen bee supplysaid volunteers from three or four other beekeeping operations in the area went to the scene of the accident Sunday to help.
“They just help each other out, that’s what they do,” Ray said. “The beekeeping community is a great community.”
Chris Moore, owner mole honeyAlong with his son and several employees, he joined the effort to help the bees, but he estimated that only about a quarter of the 408 hives would survive. He said it mostly depends on how many queens are still alive after the crash.
The potential impact of such losses on beekeeping depends on the size of the apiary. Moore noted that keepers not only lose their hives, but also the income they might have generated.
“It’s a huge loss,” Moore said. “Any time you lose that many people at once, it’s a huge loss.”
Large beekeeping operations often move hives across the country to provide commercial pollination for agriculture in places like California and honey production during the blooming season throughout the South and Midwest.
Moore said the beehive that crashed Sunday had traveled only a few miles on its way to North Dakota when the truck driver took a wrong turn and ended up in a community with narrow roads. The driver was trying to negotiate a sharp turn when the trailer overturned.
Moore said other local breeders have placed collection boxes to capture the remaining stray insects, but it can take a while for the insects to be cleared from the area.
In April, a car accident occurred truck full of bees Interstate traffic slowed near Knoxville, Tennessee.
On June 21, 2026, a semitrailer carrying about 400 beehives overturned, sending millions of bees fleeing into a rural community in Orange, Texas. (Christie Ray/Queen Bee Supply, Associated Press)
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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