Tragedy in Minneapolis

Our hearts and prayers go out to our friends in our hometown Minneapolis. A major bridge collapsed tonight into the Mississippi river connecting Downtown Minneapolis to outlining NE Minneapolis during the height of rush hour.



This makes us so sad being from the Minneapolis area. Both Jay and I are downtown vets working in the chore and have crossed this bridge by car and along the riverfront on foot more times than we can count. What a sad and tragic event.

New at 8:35 p.m.:

Associated Press reports: "There were two lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, at the point of the collapse. Those cars did go into the river," Minneapolis Police Lt. Amelia Huffman. "At this point there is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than a structural collapse."

New at 8:33 p.m.:

The following is a statement from Daniel Wolter, spokesman for the University of Minnesota:

"University of Minnesota police and emergency management personnel are actively supporting the recovery efforts surrounding the I-35W bridge collapse. The safety and well being of those affected by this tragedy is of paramount concern to the University community and we will continue to monitor the situation and provide appropriate support to our local, state and federal agency partners."

The 500-foot (150-metre) span of the steel and concrete bridge, which carried an eight-lane highway and was under repair, buckled and fell into the river and onto concrete embankments at about 6:05 p.m. CDT (7.05 p.m. EST).

The span had stood about 65 feet above the river.

Such a sad sad night in the Twin Cities.