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Thread: Minneapolis Bridge Collapses During Rush Hour

  1. #1
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    Default Minneapolis Bridge Collapses During Rush Hour

    BREAKING NEWS
    MSNBC staff and news service reports


    MINNEAPOLIS - A busy highway bridge that spans the Mississippi River just northeast of Minneapolis collapsed during rush hour Wednesday, sending a school bus, other vehicles and tons of concrete crashing into the water.

    The entire span of the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed about 6:05 p.m. A tractor-trailer caught fire, and flame and black smoke billowed into the sky.

    Local media reported 20 to 30 injuries and one death. NBC News reported that every Minneapolis ambulance had been requested to the scene.

    A burning truck and a school bus clung to one slanted slab, while at least eight cars and a truck were submerged in the river.

    The school bus reportedly had just crossed the bridge before the bridge crumpled into pieces, and local broadcast reports indicated the children, none of whom were injured, exited out the back door of the bus.

    Local television stations captured video of injured people being carried up the riverbank. Divers were also in the water.

    Some people were stranded on parts of the bridge that aren't completely in the water.

    A nursing supervisor at Hennepin County Medical Center interviewed by local WCCO radio said, "We have multiple patients. Some critical, some non-critical.”

    A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said there is no reason to think that terrorism was involved in the collapse, NBC News' Pete Williams reported.

    911 caller reacts
    Workers have been repairing the 40-year-old bridge's surface all summer along that stretch of the interstate, StarTribune.com reported. The arched bridge rises about 64 feet above the river.

    One 911 caller said she could see the construction workers using a jackhammers when the bridge collapsed close to her car. "She saw it and she said she just gunned it and just made it out of there," Tashia Brown, a 911 operator, told the StarTribune.com.

    The Minnesota Department of Transportation told local media that 200,000 cars a day use the bridge.

    'It shook the ground'
    Ramon Houge of St. Paul was on his way home from work at Wells Fargo and was driving on the bridge when heard a rumbling noise, saw the ground collapse and cars go down, StarTribune.com reported.

    “It didn’t seem like it was real,” he said. Traffic was bumper to bumper and hundreds of people would have been involved, he told the Star Tribune, adding that he saw kids on a bus with blood on their faces.

    Sarah Fahnhorst, who lives in an apartment a block away from the bridge, heard a huge thud and then “the entire building shook. It shook the ground,” she told the Star Tribune.

    StarTribune.com reported that many vehicles were trying to get to the 7:10 p.m. CT Twins game at the nearby Metrodome.

    NBC News, The Star Tribune, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20079534/?GT1=10252

  2. #2
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    I heard about this, briefly, on my way to work tonight. I will have to tune it to the news in the morning, to see what it looks like. Sounds like it was a tregedy.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by chief31 View Post
    I heard about this, briefly, on my way to work tonight. I will have to tune it to the news in the morning, to see what it looks like. Sounds like it was a tregedy.

    Yeah I really feel for those folks and their families.

  4. #4
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    Unhappy

    Been on that bridge many times due to the fact I miss the damn exit to the metrodome every single time I go there. My heart goes out to the family of the victims of this tragedy .my nephew lives right off the river there and probably is sitting on his deck watching this horrible accident .

  5. #5
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    CNN just started showing video of the actual collapse.
    THAT quarterback is NOT a Pro Bowl quarterback. Never was and never will be.

  6. #6
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    Wow. I saw some footage of the damage, at lunch. I was wondering if there was going to be any clips of the actual collapse. I wonder if anyone from around River-Falls was nearby?

  7. #7
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    Here's an arial view.


  8. #8
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    Here's another look at it.



    Nite Crowd!

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by chief31 View Post
    Wow. I saw some footage of the damage, at lunch. I was wondering if there was going to be any clips of the actual collapse. I wonder if anyone from around River-Falls was nearby?
    River Falls is actually quite aways away from this location. Sad situation this is.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrunkHillbilly View Post
    River Falls is actually quite aways away from this location. Sad situation this is.
    I know. But, if you are up there, then you have to go into town to enjoy the sites. Mall of America, Metrodome, theme park, White Castle, etc. Just a thought. I know that there ars plenty of Chiefs fans up that way, just hoping that they didn't have their vacation ruined.

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