A final note: I’ve driven across this bridge every few days for thirty years. There are bridges, and there are bridges; this one had the most magnificent view of downtown available, and it’s a miracle I never rear-ended anyone while gawking at the skyline, the old Stone Bridge, the Mississippi. You always felt proud to be here when you crossed that bridge, pleased to live in such a beautiful place. Didn’t matter if it was summer twilight or hard cold winter noon - Minneapolis always seemed to be standing at attention, posing for a formal portrait . We’ll have that view again – but it’ll take a generation before it’s no longer tinged with regret and remembrance.
We’ll pass on the usual Good Morning message today. It’s not a good morning.
11:18 PM A structural engineer reacts to the bridge’s last evaluation here. File away for future reference.
10:43 PM Death toll is now seven. Strib video report here.
10:30 More photos from disparate sources. (Via a Fark thread, which has the usual mix of personal stories, technical information, compassion, and egregious vile snark.)
10:21 PM I’m listening to a story on the news about a man who survived the fall – then ran to help the kids on the bus. I’d guess the fellow never considered what he might do in such a situation. Never thought about it much. Who would? But then you find yourself on a bridge that’s crashed down into the Mississippi, and you’re struggling with the seat belt buckle. It works , but your hands feel thick. You’re alive – which doesn’t seem that odd, really, you’ve always been alive, so this is just different, but you have strange thoughts about insurance and a mad swirl of panic and there’s blood in your hair but you can stand – and then you see a school bus. So you go to the bus. Of course you go the bus.
Most of us would. It’s a remarkable instinct that wells up and kicks in, and it’s something you never expected to experience. As someone said about humans: We’re at our best when things are worst.
Would you have run to the bus? I'll answer for you: yes.
10:04 PM There is good news. Or at least news that could have been worse. Thunderstorms were supposed to roll over the area tonight, but we’ve been spared that apocalyptic aspect so far. Give a thought for the people who would have been working the rescue effort even if monsoons and lightning had struck the disaster site.
9:57 PM KSTP is reporting that family members of missing loved ones are showing up at the site, distraught. You can only imagine their emotions – raw panic and sick despair grappling for the upper hand. The Holiday Inn Metrodome has been set up as a meeting ground for families looking for info. (Note to anyone who thinks this would be a grand time for a prank call: there's a special ring of hell waiting for you. Think again.)
9:46 PM “Melissa Hughes and her three-month-old child are okay after a truck fell on their red vehicle.” Video and interview here.
9:43 PM Last medical update for the night, Hennepin County Medical Center says: no additional deaths at HCMC. Twenty-eight patients, six are in critical condition. HCMC is one of several hospitals handling the wounded.
9:24 PM Local blog eyewitness account. (via Captain Ed.)
9:15 PM Six dead.
Governor holding a press conference right now; says the bridge was inspected last year; not scheduled for overhaul until 2020. No one is ascribing the collapse to the construction, but am I the only person to think that it might be a factor, somehow? It's odd how the mind wants explanations like that; they help make sense of the unbelievable, because we simply don't want to think that things like this happen for reasons that have been decades in the making.
Tomorrow’s Twins stadium groundbreaking cancelled. Game also cancelled.
8:50 PM Streaming video coverage from KARE11 here. Wikipedia page with bridge history here.
8:37 PM Photo gallery here. Unbelievable. The eighth photo appears to show two points of collapse.
8:30 PM: Early video here. Local stations' websites may be overloaded; this appears to be a mirror of the KSTP footage.
7:30 PM Horrible. This has to rank with the old A Mill explosion as an event that defines a time; it’s hard to think of a modern-time disaster this large, this stunning. Questions:
Did you see it happen? If so, the Strib wants to hear your story. Click here. If you're coming back from the scene with observations, post below.
Did you believe the news when you heard it? My wife called me to see where I was, and the words she said didn’t make sense. The brain has a curious response to these things – you understand exactly what you’ve just heard; you know all the words, and they were put in an order that formed a sentence, but surely you heard wrong.
What do you tell your kids? Mine was shaken by the news, because in the mind of a seven-year old, bridges don’t collapse. I imagine she’ll wonder about the other bridges we travel. She’s not alone.
What next? The disaster took out the ability to go straight through town from the south metro to the north - all that traffic will have to somewhere, and routing it through downtown or 280 will cause interminable delays for however long it takes to replace the bridge.
Any opinions on the media coverage? It's been good, as far as I can tell - serious and straight-forward. We don't know why yet, but why can wait.
Finally: Sixty children on the bus. Sixty children alive. There’s chance, and there’s miracles. Take your choice.
The magnitude of this
The magnitude of this disaster is only just beginning to occur to me. I have driven over that bridge dozens of times this summer, and was going to that area again tonight. No more.