[johniegrad]

When rescuers arrived, people were sitting on top of their submerged cars. The water is about 18 feet deep where the bridge collapse took place

How does one sit on top of a vehicle "submerged" in 18 feet of water?

[djf]

The road-deck of the bridge was/is underwater, but didn't go all the way to the bottom.

[deks]

The bridge is in the water. The roadway surface of the bridge ended up just below the surface of the water.

The pictures at the link below show it...click on the pictures for larger view [Getty Images cannot be posted here].

Also please notice that the places where the bridge steel is bent or ripped apart apparently were already marked with orange paint before the collapse [to the left of the cars and in the upper left corner].

http://eotmblog.com/2013/05/i-5-bridge-collapses-in-skagit-river/

[Doogle]

have 15 foot legs

[mc5cents]

Yea, it looks like the “about” in “about 18 feet of water” has a very wide range!

[BykrBayb]

[angry elephant]

From the pictures, it looked like the vehicles were sitting on some of the bridge debris, so that most of the car was underwater but the roofs were up and the survivors were sitting on the roofs of their cars.