Heavy duty clean-up

Newport Coast Drive was briefly closed Wednesday as workers from a local cement truck company did some heavy lifting to clean up their mess from a few weeks ago.

After drilling holes in the drum and securing it with slings, a tow truck pulled up the multi-ton cement mixing bowl that had toppled down the Newport Coast hill last month in a crash.

California Highway Patrol crews tried to pull up the drum the day of the crash, but didn’t have vehicles big enough to lift it, officials said.

The driver said that his truck went over the side when the vehicle’s brakes failed.

— Joseph Serna