Watch out! It’s a bee-nado!

At 3:30 a.m. on April 17, a semi-truck rolled over on a highway in Washington. Millions of honeybees spilled out. The truck was carrying the bees to work at a nearby blueberry field. But the bees never made it to work. Instead, they spent the day stinging bystanders. Ouch!

Beekeepers in white suits dashed about. They knew they had to save as many hives as they could before daylight. They had recovered 128 when the sun rose. Good thing! As it got warm, the bees grew active. The insects buzzed all over the highway, stinging everyone in sight. Firefighters had to kill some of the bees by spraying foam on them.

But even the bees that avoided death-by-foam might not be useful anymore. Bees live in groups called colonies. Each colony has one queen bee, which lays eggs. The hive has female worker bees, which protect the colony and take care of larvae. It also has drones, male bees that mate with the queen. Bees can only do their jobs if they stay inside their colonies. That’s hard when their hives are broken on the side of the road! And once the bees have mixed with bees from other hives, no one can get them straight again.

That’s bad news for Belleville Farms, the business the honeybees belong to. The honeybees—all 14 million of them—were worth $92,000! Bees have a very important job in creation. Their hairy bodies carry pollen from one plant to another. When female pollen meets male pollen, the plant’s fruit can begin to grow. In fact, bees are responsible for every third bite on your plate.

If you ever see a big bee-spill like the one in Washington, roll up your car windows right away. It’s better to bee safe than to bee stung!