Millions of honeybees escaped into a rural Texas neighborhood after a semitrailer carrying about 400 hives tipped over, officials said.
Emergency officials in Orange County, Texas, shut down roads in the area Sunday morning and warned residents to stay in their homes while crews worked to unload the trailer and salvage as many hives as possible. The county is located east of Houston and borders Louisiana.
“Please remain indoors,” Orange County Emergency Services wrote on social media. “An 18 wheeler carrying beehives has turned over and there is a heavy presence of bees in the area.”
No bee stings or serious injuries were immediately reported. Officials haven’t identified the owner of the hives.
Christie Ray, who owns nearby Queen Bee Supply, said volunteers from three or four other beekeeping businesses in the area went to the crash scene Sunday to help.
“They just help each other, that’s what they do,” Ray said. “The beekeeping community is a great community.”
The company posted a video and multiple images from the scene, showing beekeepers working together to salvage the hives.
Christie Ray/Queen Bee Supply via AP
A photojournalist from CBS affiliate KDFM also captured video despite being stung , the station reported.
Chris Moore, owner of Moore Honey, along with his son and several employees, joined the effort to help the bees, but he estimated that only about a quarter of the 408 hives will survive. It mostly depends on how many queens remain alive after the crash, he said.
The potential impact on a beekeeping business following a loss like this depends on the size of the apiary. Moore pointed out that the keeper is losing not only the hives but also the revenue they could be generating.
“It’s a big loss,” Moore said. “Any time you lose that many in one shot, it’s a big loss.”
It’s common for large beekeeping operations to move hives around the country to provide commercial pollination for agriculture in places like California and to follow blooming seasons throughout the South and the Midwest for honey production.
The hives that crashed Sunday had only traveled a few miles on a trip to North Dakota when the truck driver took a wrong turn and ended up in a neighborhood with narrow roads, Moore said. The driver was trying to navigate a tight corner when the trailer fell over.
Other local keepers have put out catch boxes to collect remaining strays, but it will likely take a while for the insects to clear out of the area, Moore said.
“We appreciate everyone’s patience and cooperation as crews work to safely resolve this incident,” Orange County Emergency Services wrote on social media.
Christie Ray/Queen Bee Supply via AP 
In April, a crash involving a truck full of bees slowed interstate traffic near Knoxville, Tennessee.
Last year, about 14 million bees escaped after a tractor-trailer carrying more than 70,000 pounds of pollinator hives rolled over in northern Washington state.