A small section of Hana Highway was closed for a half hour Wednesday while Maui hazardous materials crew removed remnants of chlorine tablets that were dropped on the road.

At 3:13 p.m., Paia firefighters were called to investigate a chlorine odor fronting 616 Hana Hwy.

A resident reported hearing a loud boom, found the discs in the road and reported smelling a chlorine-type odor. He did not see anyone stop to claim the product on the roadway.

Firefighters arrived to find a 150 foot section on both lanes of Hana Highway covered with round hockey puck-type discs. They were believed to be solid chlorine tablets typically used in swimming pools.

Paia firefighters picked up the tablets that were still undamaged, but had to wait until the hazardous materials crew from Kahului arrived to clean up the tablets that were turned to granule dust from all the cars running them over on the road.

Hana Highway was closed at about 4 p.m. to allow the Hazmat crew to vacuum the broken tablets and dust from the roadway. The highway was reopened at around 4:30 p.m.