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When a semi-trailer crashed last Friday on U.S. Highway 12 it sent thousands of pounds of toilet paper into the Lochsa River. Now an Idaho towing company is preparing to remove the giant rolls which are clogging up the river.

Troy Bieseker with Miles Towing, says this isn't the first time they've had to clean up an accident like this. In fact, in the last four or five years, they've done this at least three times.

Bieseker says the rolls are 8' long, 6' tall and weigh about 8,000 pounds each. When they get wet, they weigh even more. They also fall apart, and send more debris down the river.

Idaho State Police says the 24-year-old driver of the semi lost control on a curve and hit a guardrail, damaging about 100 feet of it. The truck then overturned and slid into the river, dumping 64,000 pounds of tissue paper into the water.

Miles Towing says the driver survived the accident and was released from a Missoula hospital. Now it's up to them to remove the rolls from the water. Bieseker says they'll most likely wait until the river drops, before they remove the toilet paper.

Contact Allyson Weller