XxAxX said:

So glad to hear from you and the rest of our Mpls peeps.

There's ongoing live streaming (so far) covering the horrible incident from the local FOX channel's website:

http://www.myfoxtwincitie...geId=1.1.1

Bridge collapse in Minnesota kills at least 4; crews search for more victims


at 16:15 on August 2, 2007, EST.
By JON KRAWCZYNSKI


This is an aerial view of the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River seen Thursday, in Minneapolis, after it collapsed during the evening rush hour Wednesday. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Divers searched the Mississippi River for bodies still trapped beneath the twisted debris of a collapsed freeway bridge Thursday, as finger-pointing began over a report two years ago that found the bridge was "structurally deficient."

The official death count from Wednesday evening's collapse stood at four, but police Chief Tim Dolan said more bodies were in the water. Hospitals officials said 79 people were injured.

A strong current and low visibility hampered the search, but at least four submerged vehicles had been located with sonar, officials said.

"We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles," Dolan said. "We know we do have more casualties at the scene."

The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of repairs when it buckled during the evening rush hour. Dozens of cars plummeted about 20 metres into the Mississippi River, some falling on top one of another. A school bus sat on the angled concrete.

The White House said an inspection of the 40-year-old bridge in 2005 found problems. The Interstate 35W span rated 50 on a scale of 100 for structural stability and was classified as "structurally deficient," transportation officials said.

The designation means some portions of the bridge needed to be scheduled for repair or replacement, and it was on a schedule for inspection every two years. "It didn't mean that the bridge is unsafe," Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said.

Earlier, at the White House, press secretary Tony Snow said while the inspection did not indicate the bridge was at risk of failing, "If an inspection report identifies deficiencies, the state is responsible for taking corrective actions."

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday ordered an immediate inspection of all bridges in the state with similar designs, but said the state was never warned that the bridge needed to be closed or immediately repaired.

"There was no call by anyone that we're aware of that said it should be immediately closed or immediately replaced," Pawlenty said. "It was more of a monitor, inspect, maintain, and potentially replace it in the future."

Governors across the United States scrambled Thursday to conduct bridge inspections, ordering engineers to review the safety of thousands of structures.

Nearly 13 per cent of the country's bridges were classified as "structurally deficient" in 2004, meaning they are deteriorating, according to a report issued by the Federal Highway Administration.

In the Mississippi River, divers took down licence plate numbers for authorities to track down the vehicles' owners. Getting the vehicles out was expected to take several days and involve moving around very large, heavy pieces of bridge.

As many as 30 people were reported missing, and the rescue effort had shifted to recovery.

Relatives who could not find their loved ones at hospitals gathered in a hotel ballroom Thursday for any news, hoping for the best.

Ronald Engebretsen, 57, was searching for his wife, Sherry. His daughter last heard from her when she left work in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday. Her cellphone has picked up with voice mail ever since.

"We are left with the hope that there is a Jane Doe in a hospital somewhere that's her," Engebretsen said.

As many as 50 vehicles tumbled into the river when the bridge collapsed, leaving those who could escape to scramble to shore. Some survivors carried the injured up the riverbank, while emergency workers tended to others on the ground and some jumped into the water to look for survivors. Fire and black smoke rose from the wreckage.

"People who were pinned or partly crushed told emergency workers to say 'hello' or say 'goodbye' to their loved ones," Dolan said.

The first step of the federal investigation will be to recover pieces of the bridge and reassemble them, much like a jigsaw puzzle, to try and determine what happened, NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said.

Investigators also want to review video of the collapse, and were setting up a phone number for witnesses to call with information.

"It is clearly much too early in the initial stages of this investigation to have any idea what happened," Rosenker said.

This week, road crews had been working on the bridge's joints, guardrails and lights, with lane closures overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The steel-arched bridge, built in 1967, rose about 20 metres above the river and stretched almost 600 metres across the water. It was built with a single 140-metre-long steel arch to avoid the need for piers that might interfere with river navigation.


©The Canadian Press, 2007

My prayers go out to all those who were lost...this is very sad

luv4u said:

This quote is incredibly heartwrenching.

OK, somebody help me...

On Anderson Cooper's show, they've been airing footage of (presumably) a city worker -- blonde, female, uniformed -- who was diving for anyone possibly trapped... without any sort of protective gear! No goggles, no breathing mask. No nothing. What's up with that?!? This can't possibly be city protocol.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all involved. What terrible news for Minnesotains and our Nation as a whole. I went over that bridge on the way home from the Prince concerts on 07-07-07. Just can't believe it and I'm sure Prince is freakin' out in London and feelin' helpless. Minnesota has Prince behind them and I know he's gonna help out in some kinda way!

Lammastide said:

She is a trained firefighter/emergency rescue person that was NOT on duty at the time of the bridge collapse. She lives near the bridge and either saw or heard it and went directly over to the site to help out. That's why she isn't wearing the proper diving gear. She was doing a second search of the cars in the water. She said that she could not really see anything in the murky,dirty water and it's more of space vs feel type of search. She was trying to feel the open areas of the cars where a body could have been trapped.

Minn. officials warned about bridge as early as 1990!



MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota officials were warned as early as 1990 that the bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River was "structurally deficient," yet they relied on a strategy of patchwork fixes and stepped-up inspections.
"We thought we had done all we could," state bridge engineer Dan Dorgan told reporters not far from the mangled remains of the span. "Obviously something went terribly wrong."

Questions about the cause of the collapse and whether it could have been prevented arose Thursday as authorities shifted from rescue efforts to a grim recovery operation, searching for bodies that may be hidden beneath the river's swirling currents.

The official death count from Wednesday's rush-hour collapse stood at four, with another 79 injuries. But police said the death count would surely grow because bodies had been spotted in the water and as many as 30 people were still reported missing.

The Army Corps of Engineers lowered the river level a foot to help recovery efforts, said agency spokeswoman Shannon Bauer.

In 1990, the federal government gave the I-35W bridge a rating of "structurally deficient," citing significant corrosion in its bearings. The bridge is one of about 77,000 bridges in that category nationwide, 1,160 in Minnesota alone.

The designation means some portions of the bridge needed to be scheduled for repair or replacement, and it was on a schedule for inspection every two years.

Dorgan said the bearings could not have been repaired without jacking up the entire deck of the bridge. Because the bearings were not sliding, inspectors concluded the corrosion was not a major issue.

During the 1990s, later inspections found fatigue cracks and corrosion in the steel around the bridge's joints. Those problems were repaired. Starting in 1993, the state said, the bridge was inspected annually instead of every other year.

A 2005 federal inspection also rated the bridge structurally deficient, giving it a 50 on a scale of 100 for structural stability.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said while the inspection didn't indicate the bridge was at risk of failing, "if an inspection report identifies deficiencies, the state is responsible for taking corrective actions."

Gov. Tim Pawlenty responded Thursday by ordering an immediate inspection of all bridges in the state with similar designs, but said the state was never warned that the bridge needed to be closed or immediately repaired.

"There was a view that the bridge was ultimately and eventually going to need to be replaced," he said. "But it appears from the information that we have available that a timeline for that was not immediate or imminent, but more in the future."

Federal officials alerted states to immediately inspect all bridges similar to the one that collapsed.

The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge was Minnesota's busiest bridge, carrying 141,000 vehicles a day. It was in the midst of mostly repaving repairs when it buckled during the evening rush hour. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top one of another. A school bus sat on the angled concrete.

Engineers wondered whether heavy traffic might have contributed to the collapse. Studies of the bridge have raised concern about cracks caused by metal fatigue.

"I think everybody is looking at fatigue right now," said Kent Harries, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the University of Pittsburgh's School of Engineering. "This is an interstate bridge that sees a lot of truck traffic."

After a study raised concern about cracks, the state was given two alternatives: Add steel plates to reinforce critical parts or conduct a thorough inspection of certain areas to see if there were additional cracks. They chose the inspection route, beginning that examination in May.

Dorgan said officials considered the cracks on parts of the bridge to be stable and not expanding.

When conducting inspections, Dorgan said, inspectors get within an arm's length of various components of a bridge. If they spot cracks, that leads to more hands-on testing to determine the depth and extent of the fissures.

Although concern was raised about cracks, some experts theorized it's no coincidence the collapse happened when workers and heavy equipment was on the bridge. The construction work involved resurfacing and maintenance on guardrails and lights, among other repairs.

"I would be stunned if this didn't have something to do with the construction project," said David Schulz, director of the Infrastrucure Tecchnology Institute at Northwestern University. "I think it's a major factor."

The collapsed bridge's last full inspection was completed June 15, 2006. The report shows previous inspectors' notations of fatigue cracks in the spans approaching the river, including one 4 feet long that was reinforced with bolted plates. A 1993 entry noted 3,000 feet of cracks in the surface of the bridge; they were later sealed.

That inspection and one a year earlier raised no immediate concerns about the bridge, which wasn't a candidate for replacement until 2020.

In a 2001 report from the University of Minnesota's Department of Civil Engineering, inspectors found some girders had become distorted. Engineers also saw evidence of fatigue on trusses and said the bridge might collapse if part of the truss gave way under the eight-lane freeway.

"A bridge of that vintage you always have to be concerned about that," said Richard Sause, director of the Advanced Technology for Large Structural Systems Center at Lehigh University. "In a steel bridge of that age, sure you'd be concerned about those kind of things and be diligent about looking after it. And it seems like they were."

It takes time for a fatigue crack to develop, but a crack can then expand rapidly to become a fracture, said James Garrett, co-director of the Center for Sensed Critical Infrastructure Research at Carnegie Mellon University. "If you get a crack that goes undetected it would be something that appears to happen more rapidly."

At the scene, about 15 divers and a dozen boats were in the water, but the search was proceeding slowly because of strong currents and low visibility. By mid-afternoon, they had located four submerged cars besides the dozen or so visible from the surface.

"We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles," Police Chief Tim Dolan said. "We know we do have more casualties at the scene."

Meanwhile, relatives who couldn't find their loved ones at hospitals gathered in a hotel ballroom for any news, hoping for the best.

Ronald Engebretsen, 57, spent the day searching for his wife, Sherry. His daughter last heard from her when she left work Wednesday in downtown Minneapolis. Afterward, her cell phone picked up only with voice mail.

By Thursday evening, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office announced that Sherry Engebretsen was confirmed dead. The other three were Julia Blackhawk, 32, of Savage; Patrick Holmes, 36, of Moundsview; and Artemio Trinidad-Mena, 29, of Minneapolis.

In brief telephone interview, Ronald Engebretsen said he and his family had huddled to try to come to grips with his wife's death.

"She's a great person. She's a person of great conviction, great integrity, great honesty and great faith in her God," he said. "We're just hoping and praying here."
[Edited 8/2/07 21:35pm]

I just spoke to my long time friend Peter from Excelsior...he is a long time friend..he is fine thank you god! Peter is a fellow Prince fan!!

DigMeNow said:

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Her intentions seem good, but that was a HORRID decision on her part, I think. An initial search without the proper gear would have been risky enough. A secondary search, wherein the risk to herself wouldn't even be leveraged by the hope to save a life, is nuts to me. The jagged concrete and metal, the contamination, downed power lines, etc. are just WAY too danergous!! I hope she's OK after this all.

WillyWonka said:

agreed, lets hope that they can b rescued

I've been watching the whole thing play out on the news over here....I'm that all of the Minneapolis Org Family is safe and well, and for those citizens who were injured or worse in the collapse.....

can anyone say if they've been in contact with minneapolisfunk?
sure wish his profile had the "email through the org" function


you never realize how many peeps there are in minne till you need to start counting noses.

WillyWonka said:

This should be a wake-up call to our elected officials to do something about America's crumbling infrastructure. In NYC where I live, 166 city bridges were deemed "structurally deficient" including the Brooklyn Bridge. In fact, the Brooklyn Bridge rated LOWER than the one in Minneapolis. How scary is that?

WillyWonka said:

it really is

babynoz said:

thank you. it's good to be alive, here in mpls

uPtoWnNY said:

and the tappan zee bridge isn't that "structurally" sound either

L4OATheOriginal said:

Yep...I saw that report too. Traffic expert Sam Schwartz said there's not enough preventative maintenance done on these bridges. They're just tragedies waiting to happen.

Lammastide said:

Yeah, I hope she's doing well. She also mentioned that the proper gear would have hindered her search because of the buoyancy of it.

Lammastide said:

right after the collapse local news stations were broadcasting requests for 1) all of us to stay off the phone lines; and 2) all rescue personnel, public safety workers, ambulances, fire department, medical, etc. to report directly to the scene of the collapse. it was broadcast as a 'code orange'.

i think a lot of rescue workers just hopped in their cars and went right to the bridge. later, the stations were broadcasting requests for rescue personnel to report to their local precinct, first.

all in all i've been very impressed by how fast and efficiently our rescue operations were launched.

but i've also been less than impressed with the details of road maintenance that are coming to light. true, it is a nationwide problem, and bridge-building technology has a lot of catching up to do with increasing populations, suburban sprawl, etc. plus, minnesota has a vicious freeze-thaw cycle which makes construction... challenging.

but here in minnesota we also pay a lot in state taxes. i never minded doing so as long as it was under the assumption that i'm paying for schools, libraries and road maintenance. public works are worthwhile imo.

but now it looks like not much of our taxes have been going to road maintenance. at least, not enough. i hope they get things sorted around and invest in reinforcing those bridges which need it.

XxAxX said:

Repairing America's infrastructure should be a top priority. Unfortunately, it always takes a disaster to wake up our elected officials. I read in the paper there's finger-pointing between White House press secretary Tony Snow & Gov. Pawlenty. Snow suggested the state should have fixed the problem - Pawlenty said the state never received a rush order to overhaul the structure

uPtoWnNY said:

not 2 mention when it's a windy day ..strap in when u'r on that tappan zee..cause u can feel u'r car being "pushed", i haul ass when i'm on that bridge

EskomoKisses said:

Luv you too sis. Any news about Brian and his family yet?
Let's catch up soon.
xoxoxox

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I can understand that, I guess. Though overly bouyant gear makes me wonder about its "properness."

emm said:

i orgnoted him and had a reply this morning that he was well
so that is good



now i just need to see a picture of that baby

uPtoWnNY said:

You're right about needing a disaster to spur (?) our government into action....but just when you think that they actually care about people over money, you read a story like this one.....my heart broke when I read it....

http://www.cnn.com/2007/U...newssearch





(sidenote: I didn't add this link to "steal thunder" from the devastating Minneapolis disaster...so if I inadvertantly ruffle a few feathers please accept my sincere apologies....and know that it wasn't my intention at all.

Thanks!)
[Edited 8/3/07 22:43pm]

Phantasy said:

Not that it matters, but, I wonder if Prince mentioned anything during his London concert?