Interstate bridge collapses into Mississippi River

[Boater Dan]

First - My condolensces to the families of the victims. A terrible tragedy that from reports being published on the bridge inspections might have been prevented.

Second - My thoughts and prayers go out to the divers who have to deal with and in these conditions. Entanglement is one of the big factors we face while dealing in Zero vis conditions. The nature of the rubble pile makes this 10 times more dangerous than most of what we face. I agree with Gary that this is truly a commercial demolition effort after the free vehicles have been recovered.

Third - I was listening to the divers on the Incident Broadcast Network computer site. http://www.incidentbroadcast.com/ There is a link to St. Cloud Minn if anyone would want to listen. I am assuming they will be working today as well.

Fourth - Blades - Great explanation on the recovery and use of side scan.

Finally - As I was sitting watching the news, they were talking about the design of the bridge. I look at it and thought it look just like the bridge I travel daily. Well the news announed last night that my bridge is the same design as the one in Minn. Hopefully someone will look at it even though our Govenor was on the TV news yesterday telling PA residents that there will be no additional inspections, that our bridges are safe! Sure, we only have 2,500 in PA listed as defficient!

God Bless the victims and the recovery personnel.

Dan

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Blades thanks for the explanation. I guess the mapping of the bottom would also help to figure out what went wrong as you map how it is laying on the bottom. I read yesterday that they had sent divers into the water to write down plate numbers and try to figure out who might have made it out and who might still be down there. It seemed most of what I read supported the mapping idea and information gathering at this point.

Some of the pictures I saw of the bridge before the accident showed some sort of structure in the water a few hundred yards from the bridge stretched across the river. Anybody know what that is and what purpose it serves?

This morning they are still saying 4 confirmed dead and only 8 missing. It is amazing after watching the footage of this that the numbers are that low with as many people as were on it at the time. Looking at many of the cars that people made it out of alive it is nothing short of a miracle for those folks.

Hopefully no one else will get hurt on this thing and the divers and recovery teams will be able to do their jobs in a safe manner.

 

[Gary D.]

Some of the pictures I saw of the bridge before the accident showed some sort of structure in the water a few hundred yards from the bridge stretched across the river. Anybody know what that is and what purpose it serves?

QUOTE]
If it's the same thing I have been seeing it's a Current Control Gate aka Dam.

Gary D.

 

[Cacia]

I hear the water is 6-12 ft?

Much more shallow that I had imagined. I heard some talk about lowering the level even more with the locke system at the dam.

I saw this woman rescue team/surveyor person with a yellow line tethered to her waist, clothes and a life vest, drop below the surface at a car and go under water, with no mask. The water is almost black in the big muddy today they say.

I keep wondering if lifting items out with a crane would work to some degree. I suppose
that mapping the way the cookie crumbled is the top priority now, even if no ones states that, it seems to me to be the most important piece of information.

I suppose they have swift water resue teams like in Socal that we see at the LA aquaduct?
those guys are really trained from what I see watching them work..

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

There is a vid of that lady fire fighter on this site: http://wcco.com/ I think she was the one I saw the other day tied off to a rope and checking cars right after it happened. It was heart breaking to see her in the moments after the bridge went down dive time and time again, no gear at all desperately searching for people car after car. I believe her name is Shanna Hanson.

My hat is off to her and the many who responded so quickly to save lives. Without such people the loss of life would have been much greater than it was. We are blessed to live in a county full of Shanna Hansons both male and female who stand ready to help when the worst things in life come calling. We owe such people far more thanks than they receive.

 

[Cacia]

NTSB guy (chairman) is giving good information and laying out the course of the investigation.

I like him because he is not frozen up like all those bureaucrats who just answer with yes and no .....

Something that repeatedly bugs me though is when people insist no one speculates.

If you are an investigator or have a role in the investigation, that is certainly right. IF you are a journalist, or a taxpayer, it is your job to voice questions and theories. God help us if we all start chanting "don't speculate" on every single thing that happens in this country.

Taking another route that is a reasonable choice on your way home in rush hour and avoiding similiar "D" rated bridges at full capacity when they will be at max capacity is actually specualtion of sorts but perhaps reasonable.

My own opinion is that our federal government is broken, irregardless of who is in power, the entire system is functioning at a very low level and things that should be getting priority: infastructure, borders, social security..the basics, non of it is working very well any more.

I feel some shame for America on events like this. This seems like a third world event to me, unlike Katrina and events beyond our control, at least to some degree.

I feel worst for people who still don't know and are hoping family members will check in, similiar to post 9-11.

Any discussion of holding back water or diverting any of it to make the job easier?

 

[Cacia]

I hear the Navy divers are going in.

 

[Hockeynut]

If I had 20 hours I could tell stories all night here. I'll give you 2. A lady I know and her 2 kids went across the bridge probably half an hour before. They almost never go down that way. That would have been a total bummer.
Another guy I know crosses that bridge everyday of his life. Out of the blue, he decides to go east and up highway 280. Right about 6:10 pm. Divine intervention?

I'm glad I wasn't working down in that end of the Twin Cities.

 

[Gary D.]

I hear the Navy divers are going in.

That's very good news. Did you hear anything about the Army divers?

Gary D.

 

[AXL72]

. Divine intervention?

Devine intervention would insinuate that one person's life is valued more than another's by God. So the answer to the question is, "no, it is not devine intervention".