The accident happened on Saturday evening local time (Picture: Reuters)

This is the disturbing aftermath of the turbulent weather on San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge.

A picture shared on Twitter by California Highway Patrol shows a big rig truck all mangled and toppled on its side on Saturday evening.

Traffic was shut down completely in both directions on the one-mile-wide bridge shortly after 7pm local time.

Other ‘high-profile’ vehicles were urged to avoid the area due to the high winds.

Footage shows rescue crews removing the truck, which caused a traffic nightmare.

At the time, the National Weather Service had issued gale warnings for the waters off the bridge.

The traffic alert from CHP read: ‘The 1 and 2 southbound and northbound lanes are blocked on the Golden Gate Bridge due to an overturned big rig.

‘High-profile vehicles should avoid the area due to high winds. Please avoid the area and use an alternate route.’

It is yet unclear if there were any casualties in the accident, and the status of the truck driver is currently unknown.

According to local media, the bridge was reopened an hour later after the truck was cleared.

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But the backup of stranded vehicles continued to linger for at least another three hours.

The collision happened just hours before president Joe Biden declared a major disaster in the state of California.

Friday’s storms were the latest in a series of so-called atmospheric rivers that have deluged California since late December.

The storms have killed at least 19 people, and flooded inland areas.

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Vehicles were stranded on the bridge for hours.