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[EDIT: post 45 has a video clip of the bridge collapsing]
I hope everyone here is okay. A major freeway bridge across the mississippi river has collapsed during the 6pm rush hour and taken many cars with it.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1338294.html
It's all over the news, including CNN.
richard gere said it was the chemical plant.. :spock:
Holy shit! I live right next to the train that part of the freeway fell on… It’s fucking crazy out here…. they set up the mobile medical center in the parking lot…
It's a big deal in the news. Glad I don't go that way as part of my regular daily commute.
Just turned on the TV. Looks crazy. Strange the local affiliates aren't showing any interest.
Delly, Jasen and I called you to make sure you're okay. Good to know you are.
(Mr. DjDelly lives, literally feet from this bridge)
Been watching this on the news...visually it's one heck of a sight. Thankfully it seems that many people have apparently escaped death/serious injury.
I wonder if insurance is going to cover for the damage of the cars? :spock:
Man people are a little overzealous.... some Non-police office tried to get my friend and I arrested for taking are dogs out to the bathroom….
Quote:
Originally Posted by GregN.
PinkShoes takes it home everyday and was on it 45 minutes prior to it collapsing… When it happened we both thought it was an earthquake…
Scarry shit...
Reminds me of the old Sunshine Skyway Bridge
so far at least 3 confirmed dead, 37 injured.
I concur with Bobak, hope everyone here is OK.
Just horrible
EDIT: 50 cars in water... school bus of 20 children managed to stop JUST IN FRONT of the collapse
that's crazy - I just saw that on CNN too. 50 cars in the water? terrible.
that's pretty insane. Good to see the amount of casualties is low. Doesn't seem like a highly suspended bridge.
Saw it all over our local news here in Fresno. Just hoping all of our Minneapolis members are okay.
They are currently saying that 6 people are dead
2000 ft has collapsed
Bridge was built in 1967
The apartment has dubbed the overzealous lady as blue gloves... I honestly think she has tried to get 10-15 people arrested so far….
It's covered under comprehensive insurance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fighter123
From now on I can go around telling people that I "survived" the earthquakes of California. :spock:Quote:
She said the scene was worse than any of the many earthquakes she had survived in California.
The first thing that came to mind when I heard this on the radio tonight was our MN members.
Isn't Magician one of you guys?
Grab someone with a shitty camera and put her up on youtube acting like a tool. Then hand out the url to all apartment residents who she might approach and have them hand it to her.Quote:
Originally Posted by djdelly
Quote:
Originally Posted by neobuyer
Yeah he called to make sure everything was ok.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SamuraiShodownSensei
A few of the residents went off on her, it was pretty funny the cops agreed with us and told her to back off....
Another interesting thing is that the Minnesota Twin are playing at the Metrodome, (which is across the river from me and right next to collapsed bridge) they decide to play the game since 20-30k showed up to watch (prior to the bridge collapsing) the game and releasing the people would f-up traffic even more…. the game has gone into extra innings and they have been asking people not to leave unless it is an emergency.
Or even better. Hand her some children's arm floaties and tell her if she really wants to help she should go look for bodies.
Yeah, I heard about this on the way home when my Dad called me and the rest of my family. We have family living out there, which was what first came to mind, then how a lot of Neo-Geo residents are also in MN. Great to hear you are ok. My heart goes out to those who were lost.
Just remember that if you're trying to get in contact with someone in Minneapolis, don't call their cell phone. They want to keep the lines open for emergencies only, and all the cell networks are pretty congested right now.
I missed the collapse by a half hour, Delly. Was heading from uptown towards home. I'm supposed to head to my grandma's place while my apartment is getting fixed up.
I will probably go over to the gf's place in saint paul instead.
Yeah I hope everyone is aight....
I'm a mother hen.
Last weekend, I heard that some employes were injuried at a NG.com member's worplace..... I checked his account to make sure that he had logged in since the accident.
Holy fucking shit, my fiance and I were just on that bridge on Monday...had I been in the cities and not at my mom's house, I prolly would've been on the bridge when it collapsed. :(
My fiance's uncle was on the bridge 45 minutes before it collapsed.
I tried calling you guys but my cell wasnt getting service (for obvious reasons) good to see everones all right. I was on the bridge a couple of hours before it went down and was pretty shook up after hearing what happened. If it would have happened yesterday I would have been in the river...
CNN has up live footage of it going down. That's some crazy shit, amazing more didn't get killed.
Terrible news. I've always been scared of driving through some of the highways over here, they're up in the air like 3-4 stories high. If those things collapse it's a sure death.
Condolences to those who passed away.
It's uncertain at this point how many have died, they said 9, now they say 4. Unfortunately, there may be more as they sweep the area.
I think this is getting way too much coverage nationally. Then again, there are bridges like this all over the world, so it applies to more than just Minnesotans. You can bet they'll take measures in other places to check to make sure other bridges are safe. Too bad it takes something tragic to happen for people to take action to get things moving.
60 cars in the water but only 4-9 dead? You MN people are definitely made of hearty fucking stock.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kiel
Dood glad to hear you are ok.
I have to cross three "Police do not cross lines" to get out of my apartment this morning....
You do realize that this will make it a little more difficult to get to your place to play poker, right? Do you know the exit on 280 that I'd have to take? God traffic is going to suck for YEARS over there now...
I would suggest heading out early so you can get to my place on time... :D
Parking will be fun too...
Are you sure that you will be able to cross 280? They shut down the lights and turned it into a "Freeway".
Presonally, I blame global warming and/or the Bush adminstration.
Here's the google map for the location of the collapse: 35W (it might help those who are curious about where this happened)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...wloc=addr&om=1
[the sat photos on Google are old, from late 2002 judging by the Cirque de Soleil tent. There are actually a _lot_ more buildings to the west of it now, all built in the last five years.]
I walked over there this morning instead of going to the gym. They've apparently stopped people from going onto the Stone Arch (I went up to G's office last night --it has a great view and Stone Arch was full of people at the time --we think one of her officemates submitted a photo that was being used on CNN/WCCO).
It was weird to walk over to a vantage point this morning because a lot of it seems to have gone below the eyeline. All you see in the remaining Ceder Ave. bridge that the rescue workers are using (which I used a lot in law school, my law school was very close to the bridge and they're using the adjacent hotel for families of victims).
The Cedar Ave Bridge is actually well located for the recovery effort: it's very close to where the I-35 was and it looks down on both the rubble as well as downstream of the bridge where a lot of wreckage is probably moving. The Washington Ave. Bridge is probably also being used.
The light was awful both times for pictures --last night at dusk and this morning with the sunrise. It's a real mess.
As Delly mentioned, they've turned 280 into a freeway (he explained how their doing it better than I could). Apparently traffic wasn't too bad this morning, but who knows how it will work out.
They estimate repairs may take up to "years"...
I took this last night (it was dusk, so the quality wasn't as good)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85.../080107-01.jpg
I actually was able to do a side-by-side with a photo I took previously:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85...reandafter.jpg
[Edit: replaced with a better cropped comparison]
Delly, if you guys take some good photos they would be welcome on places like Wikipedia. Let me know if you want to or need help doing it (I is a Wikipedia uber-geek (admin)).
That is just the confirmed dead. Unfortunately there will probably be others under the wreckage and bodies that have been carried away by the mighty Mississippi.Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthtownKid
My condolences go out to all those who lost family / friends in this disaster.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobak
I could have been a pic whore and taken tons of pics of the wreckage prior to the police arriving, but I wasn’t about to do that. We could (and many did) get right up to the collapsed bridge. People were running through the wood to get a closer look for pic and to film video it was just crazy….
4th Photo on the left is the apartment I live in.
13th photo was taken from the apartment parking lot.
LINK
Oh no, I meant like this morning or whatever. Obviously during the situation there are other things that are more important.Quote:
Originally Posted by djdelly
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobak
I know, I was just letting you know how crazy some people were when it was happening.
I was looking for a few freinds to make sure that they were alright... we had a small handfull of people that were crying, becasue they didn't know were there loved ones were.
Heh, getting a good look at the photos, it is amazing to see that the four land is built with just a little bit of stone foundation while leaving the rest up to the metal, compared to the two lane bridge next to it that is built like a beast. Shows what 40 years can do to high stress metal. Always start with a good foundation that you can go back to.
Security video caught the collapse, here's a youtube link:
[Edit: this new first one is better}
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA23jQcEGvQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKLjB_nq76c
Watch the media spin things and stir up fear.
(ZOMG! All bridges are unsafe!)
It is a little creepy that something like just under half of bridges in the US are rated at the same "could be replaced" rating that this bridge was...Quote:
Originally Posted by GregN.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MonoTekETeA
The foundation appears fine. It would seem the bridge sheared at or around it's center of mass. Metal (steel) can be used in tension and compression, unlike concrete which makes it a popular choice for bridges.
Good to hear the forum's MN folks are doing ok and hope the city and the people will make it through this tragedy.
The consensus guess at work, put forth by our ultrasound expert, is that it was resonance related... I admit I was thinking the same thing because initial reports mentioned the construction crew doing resurfacing was using a jackhammer (in addition to all the cars) and it made me think of the Millenium Bridge or Tacoma Narrows Bridge.Quote:
Originally Posted by Magnaflux