Posted on 08/01/2007 4:28:27 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo
Just turned on the news. 35W bridge collapsed in the Mississippi River. Cars, trucks, semis.....
Fires burning, tanker trucks, at least one school bus, more than ten cars......
Just now breaking.......
Jeffers, can you orient me as to the direction of view in post 1615, and the two sides of the bridge in the picture on post 1507?
Glad you're not actually toast.
Great shots! Thanks.....
And thanks to all of the FReepers that have offered their prayers and news gathering efforts on this awful evening....
Hope that they're wrong. I'v heard a few miraculous accounts from survivors. I hope we hear more.
On your second image (1639), is their a bridge pier aligned with the downstream exit from the lock and dam? Look at the right side of the image, and the lower bridge is the one that failed.
True, but so is every other guess.
This is a pretty good article from a local news source, it offers a time-line of information:
There was a couple of interesting comments made, one such as this:
“Road crews had been working on the 40-year-old bridge’s deck, joints, guardrails and lights this week. “None of it would be related to the structure,” said Bob McFarlin, assistant to Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau.”
In fact 18 employees were on the bridge at the time of the collapase.
“Tom Sloan, head of the bridge division for Progressive Contractors Inc. said his company had 18 workers on the bridge at the time of the collapse and one was unaccounted for on Wednesday night. Three were hospitalized, while several others were treated for minor injuries, he said.”
http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_213191448.html
Thank the Lord for the survival of the sixty plus kids on the school bus.
The parking attendant was East Indian. He was speaking very quickly and it was difficult to understand what he was saying. He repeated that the bridge collapsed 3 different times before it dawned on us what he was saying. Plus that bridge is such a fixture that the thought of it falling down didn’t really sink in.
The brevity is good.
9 dead
20 missing
Per FOX report
Prayers for All Affected by this Horrible Tragedy!
That is so terrible. I’m proud of the Minnesotans that came to help.
Me, too.
Though, I’m doing the math, and 50 cars—with how many passengers—and it just doesn’t look good. Of course, being the eternal optimist, miracles happen every day and that well could be the case here as well.
I know that the bridge was bumper to bumper traffic at the time, so HOW many cars actually fell into the river? You know it had to be quite a lot. Drivers that made it over the bridge, just to see it fall in their rearview mirrors, said cars were just dropping into the river.
Yet, I will remain hopeful.
I am extremely grateful that there was only one lane of traffic open or this would have been even MORE horrendous.
omg. i just got home from a busy day at the office, and straight to a local grassroots GOP meeting at 7pm, then to stabucks. been oblivious to this afternoon.
thanks for posting that picture - it gives a good view of the devastation. unbelieveable. horrible.
from what i understand (don’t rely on me, i only read the first page of this thread), the bridge was under construction (or, being worked on). you know, there was just another bridge that collapsed YESTERDAY in Oroville, near Sacramento. Not sure if it was mentioned on this thread yet or not.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/02/america/NA-GEN-US-Bridge-Collapse-History.php
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