posted August 02, 2007 11:23 AM
Was worried about you when I heard the news of the bridge collapse in Minnesota. Not sure exactly what part of the state you live in but most people live in the burbs around major cities. So I am worried. We crossed over that particular bridge less than 3 years ago. *shudder* And my son is a long distance truck driver who is in and out of Minnesota and travels over those bridges all the time. So when the news broke my first thought was of him and you, Zala.
Several Missing After Fatal Bridge Collapse
Official: 'We've Moved From Rescue To Recovery Mode'
UPDATED: 11:03 am EDT August 2, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS -- Emergency crews in Minneapolis are working on recovery and cleanup efforts at the scene of the Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed during rush hour Wednesday evening.
President George W. Bush said that the federal government will help ensure that the collapsed bridge in Minneapolis "gets rebuilt as quickly as possible."
The death toll in the collapse of the bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis was fluctuating and surrounded by a lot of confusion.
The fire department reported seven dead overnight, with 20 people missing as of early Thursday morning. A local fire chief said that death toll was expected to climb. There were at least 80 injured, according to Dr. John Hick, of the Hennepin County Medical Center.
But early Thursday morning, Minneapolis police Lt. Amelia Huffman said the number of confirmed fatalities was lowered to four. Police Chief Tim Dolan would not give a number of fatalities, saying that was up in the air. He did say that 20-30 people were considered missing.
"At this point I think there's still some unknowns," he said
Sheriff Richard Stanek also said he would not talk about the death toll.
"We know there are dozens of injuries as well, but it's too early to speculate and make a guess. It's unfair to the families," Stanek said.
The entire span of the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed about 6:05 p.m. Wednesday where the freeway crosses the river near University Avenue.
"This is going to take a long time, this recovery," Dolan said. "We're going to have to do it slowly and safely."
Emergency responders had switched from a rescue to recovery mode around 10 p.m., officials said. It was too dark and there was too much debris to continue work in the water Wednesday night. It is possible that more survivors could be found, but the chances are slim, a fire rescue official said.
Recovery crews began work again at 6 a.m. Thursday.
A Twin Cities Red Cross official said there had been an overwhelming response from Twin Cities residents wanting to know how they could help. He said blood supplies were adequate, but more would be needed eventually for the next possible emergency.
Homeland security officials in Washington said there are no indications of a link to terrorism. Law enforcement agents went over the wreckage with bomb-sniffing dogs Wednesday night.
Dr. Joseph Clinton of the Hennepin County Medical Center gave a briefing Wednesday night.
"We had four patients who have had surgery," Clinton said.
He said six patients were critical but stable. Some of the more severely injured victims were taken to University of Minnesota hospital, and a number of children were taken to North Memorial hospital. Clinton said they were "still identifying people."
In all, at HCMC, there were six patients in critical condition, and 22 in non-critical.
One patient had surgery on his or her head, three had abdominal surgery and another had a chest injury that did not require surgery.
Most of the injuries were caused by falls and blunt force trauma, Clinton said.
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has spoke to reporters several times.
"This will be a tragic night before it is over," Rybak said Wednesday night.
Pawlenty said, "It is a catastrophe and we want to say to the families our hearts and prayers are with you and we are doing everything we can to respond to this emergency."
The governor said he spoke with the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters, and Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, both of whom offered federal help.
Pawlenty told reporters that the bridge, built in 1967, had been inspected in both 2005 and 2006 and "no structural deficiencies were identified." The inspection team felt the bridge would not need to be replaced until 2020 or beyond. The governor confirmed that the construction taking place for the last few weeks was "minor" and "cosmetic," focusing on replacing lighting, concrete, lighting and guardrails and some work on joints.
A firefighter on the scene said everybody from the north side of the bridge was pulled from the scene alive and that at least 50 vehicles were on the bridge at the time of the incident.
The chief engineer told local reporters they were not doing any construction work on the structure of the bridge deck. Workers had been doing simple road repair on the pavement which started a month ago.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said there will be a full federal review of why the bridge collapsed. He spoke of a need for a "full forensic review." He said that hopefully it would not be the beginning of discoveries of other major structural flaws in the state's infrastructure.
A 2001 Minnesota Department of Transportation report looked at "fatigue cracking" on the bride and concluded:
"The bridge's deck truss has not experienced fatigue cracking, but it has many poor fatigue details on the main truss and floor truss system.
"The research helped determine that the fatigue cracking of the deck truss is not likely, which means that the bridge should not have any problems with fatigue cracking in the foreseeable future."
"Clearly we have major issues with infrastructure," Coleman told KSTP TV News in Minneapolis. "Let's get focused on that."
Coleman, along with other officials, said there was no indication from federal officials that the collapse was terrorism-related. The FBI was investigating, officials said.
"Clearly that angle also has to be checked out," Coleman said.
Emergency officials said the bridge collapse could be among the worst-ever disasters in Twin City history.
"For us, this is a big deal," Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack said.
The Red Cross said it had established a phone number for the families of the victims: 612-871-7676.
Witnesses Speak
One driver whose car slid down the collapsing bridge said he was lucky his brakes were able to stop his car before going over the edge into the water. As he and other drivers got out of their vehicles and climbed up the incline, they rushed to get children off a nearby school bus.
He said the kids were "crying, screaming," as they were lifted out of the damaged bus.
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