Terrible Freak Accident in Minneapolis

Sure doesn't look like an accident to me—considering the minimal seismic activity in our region, and that it's at rush hour, on a major bridge in a major city, and the full length of the bridge being out rather than just one or 2 small struts. Just looks a little too massive to me. I'll be happy to say it's just a knee-jerk reaction to a simple structural breakdown.

Update: Still very early in this—sounding more and more like an accident as news comes in. One man just called into Fox saying he noticed a large hole just before the accident and that this likely occured because of a lot of from construction that has been going on for a month on the bridge.

But for now, Our prayers for the crash victims and Godspeed to the rescue team.


Strib short summary at 7 pm: The Interstate Hwy. 35W bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed during the evening rush hour Wednesday, dumping at least eight cars and a truck into the water and onto the land below, creating a horrific scene of damage, fire, smoke, injuries, frantic rescuers and terrified motorists.

Update: Kermit's covering it over at AntiStrib.


And here's the bird's eye
view after the fall ...


Update: And here in Plymouth about 7:30 to the NW the lightning and thunder are hearlding a big rainstorm about to hit the rescue workers.

Shot of the bridge before the accident (click on image for full size):



John from Powerline sums up his astonishment:

This is a relatively new highway; I think the bridge is around 30 years old. There is construction underway on Highway 35. One hopes that didn't contribute to the disaster. This is certainly not an earthquake zone.

This is the kind of disaster that just doesn't happen in the United States--a bridge spontaneously collapsing, apparently, into a river. It is hard to convey to those who don't live here the astonishment of this sort of catastrophe happening on our most traveled highway.

I know it sounds like a nothing of a statement to say how many times I've driven over this stretch of road over the years, but for those of us that live here, that's exactly what we're thinking. 35 along with 94 are the 2 dimensional arteries that supply this metro. I just got back from Florida today with all the kids. Thankfully, we took a different route north from the airport. Say a prayer for Minneapolis.

Update: Cap'n Ed's doing the play by play over at CQ. He says: Michelle Malkin also notes that the Department of Transportation will have a press conference at 8:40 local time.

Lassie adds:
I received a link at FreeRepublic tonight from Blanked-Out:

35W just came down right in front of my house

UPDATE 9:20pm: Tom Elko points out Noah’s place in his latest post. I haven’t heard from Noah since but will post an update as soon as I hear anything from him.

Photo by Adam Meyer, emailed to Tom Elko

UPDATE 8:44pm: Aaron Landry here; Noah is being overwhelmed with phone calls so he gave me the keys to the castle to relay his updates. Here’s a couple shots of Noah’s place is in comparison to the bridge:

UPDATE:

I’m at the Humphrey School waiting for a ride.  We couldn’t take a car or any of our belongings.  One cat was taken, one was left behind.

I’m shocked, but no longer shaking.  Still sweaty from sprinting to river side to help rescue people.  Didn’t see any dead or hurt on the West side of non existent bridge.  Helped people off girders.   My cell phone isn’t working like many of yours, so email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you need to.  I have pictures, will upload later.  Confirmed all of my friends (except one) who commute are safe.