Rain Hinders Search For Bridge Collapse Victims

Saturday, August 4th 2007, 2:50 pm

By: News On 6

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ A drizzle made the Mississippi River nearly opaque Saturday at the scene of an interstate bridge collapse, hampering recovery efforts already made especially hazardous by jagged metal and cliffs of broken concrete.

The number of dead stood at five, but authorities said another eight bodies likely were trapped in the wreckage. Divers worked to find the remains as relatives of the victims awaited word.

``If there's heavy rains that raise the water level, that will become an issue, but as long as that doesn't become a problem, they'll continue,'' said Lt. Amelia Huffman, a police spokeswoman.

Huffman said the agencies involved are discussing the best way ``to make a transition from a crime scene to a death scene,'' a reference to the recovery being slowed by the need to preserve evidence for federal inspectors.

President Bush took an aerial tour of the damage, then went to the scene to speak with a construction worker who helped rescue children after the collapse. After walking around the site, Bush went to a makeshift command post where he spoke with the families of two victims, as well as first responders and rescue workers.

Bush noted the determination of the divers ``who are working as hard as they possibly can to save life and to find life, to go under these murky waters to find the facts.'' But he warned that the efforts would take some time.

He also praised the spirit of the many people who rushed to help.

``We have an amazing country, where people's instinct, first instinct, is to help save life,'' he said.

He pledged that the bridge, which had been the state's busiest, would be rebuilt as soon as possible.

``We understand this is a main artery of life here, that people count on this bridge and this highway system to get to work,'' he said.

At a site set up by the Red Cross to offer counseling, about 30 friends and family had been seeking news on missing motorists, and counselors said they were growing more distressed.

``They've just been waiting for word, any kind of word,'' Red Cross spokesman Ted Canova said Saturday.

Of the roughly 100 injured in Wednesday's collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge, 24 remained hospitalized Saturday, five of them in critical condition.

``We were surprised that we didn't have more people seriously injured and killed,'' Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack told The Associated Press. ``I think it was something of a miracle.''

Experts said the speed and depth of the water in the river were much lower than normal on the day of the collapse, largely the result of a drought, and that may have made it easier for people to escape.

``It's a horrible, tragic event. But it could have been a hell of a lot worse,'' said Kent Harries, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the University of Pittsburgh's School of Engineering.

Minnesota officials say they don't yet know how many cars were traveling the span during the collapse. But judging by the length of road, the lanes that were open, time of day and widely accepted traffic formulas, Northwestern University engineering professor Joseph Schofer estimated that 100 to 150 vehicles were on the bridge.

On Thursday, authorities cautioned that the number of missing could rise, because there was no way to know how many victims were in the water and some may not have been reported missing.

The missing included a 23-year-old pregnant woman and her 2-year-old daughter, who was in the back seat of the family's car when the bridge crumbled.

Authorities still do not know what caused the collapse. Engineers had theories including heavy traffic and construction work that might have put an undue burden on the span. The bridge was deemed ``structurally deficient'' by the federal government as far back as 1990.

After the collapse, federal officials ordered states to immediately inspect bridges of similar design. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Saturday that those inspections hadn't found any immediate problems.

Reports and inspections over the years had raised concern about the Minnesota bridge, including rust-eaten steel beams, missing bolts and cracks in the welding that held load-bearing parts together.

A consulting company that thoroughly examined the bridge noted that one possible fix _ steel plating of fractures _ carried a ``relatively high cost,'' according to a January report. Transportation officials deny that cost pressures swayed their decisions.

Authorities and engineers agree that the truss-style design of the bridge played a big role in the relatively low number of fatalities. The steel that supported the bridge was below the structure _ as opposed to above the span in more traditional bridge designs.

``I think that was a lifesaving feature,'' Schofer said. ``They had this huge advantage. They weren't crushed by steel.''

Clack also praised the rescuers who rushed to the bridge in the chaos after the collapse. Because the bridge was near the heart of downtown, several emergency crews and residents were close by.

Though the collapse occurred during rush hour, the heavy traffic meant the cars were almost stopped and didn't have much momentum, so the collapse was less likely to hurl moving cars into the river, Clack said.

``When the bridge fell, they went straight down,'' he said.

Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said investigators were particularly interested in learning why a part of the bridge's southern span shifted as it collapsed. That was the only part of the bridge that shifted, and it could help pinpoint the cause.

The irregular slope of the riverbank on the south side of the bridge turned out to be a good thing. When that portion of bridge snapped at the middle, the support pylons held, and the roadway only had a short distance to fall until it was caught by a drop-off just before the river.

On the north side of the bridge, however, the bank slopes down in a steady angle to a broad flood plain. When that portion of the bridge crumpled, there was nothing to catch it.

Dr. John Hick, assistant medical director for emergency medical services at Hennepin County Medical Center, said injuries on the north end of the bridge were much more grave.

Another factor that may have limited the death toll is the behavior of the river itself.

Scott Bratten, who regulates locks and dams on the river for the Army Corps of Engineers, said that because of the drought in Minnesota, the water was flowing at just a third of its normal speed. That may have made it easier for people in cars to escape them, and it almost certainly made it easier for rescuers to make their way into the water and help the dazed and injured.

``During the spring it's a raging torrent in there and it would be a very dangerous place,'' said Whitney Clark, executive director of Friends of the Mississippi River. ``The low water I'm sure was a factor in not making currents very much of an issue. ... If this had happened during the spring snowmelt or something it would have been a much different situation.''