I35W Bridge Collapse

It was a week ago today that Minnesotans and others were shocked and saddened when the I35W Bridge Collapsed. Without warning, on August 1, 2007 at 6:05pm the bridge came down onto land and onto the Mississippi River crushing cars and, unfortunately, people. I was not near the bridge when it collapsed. I was safely at home in Mound. Oblivious for the first hour that it even happened. At around 7pm I got on the internet to check the weather and instead found pictures of the devastation, it looked like an earthquake had toppled the bridge.

copied from wcco.com
Of course my first thought was "could I have known anyone involved?" I rushed through my memory bank.... I had called my Dad as soon as I saw it online, my parents were fine. Nick was in Eden Prairie. My brother works south of the cities and was on his way over to my parents.... but who knows who else could have been driving that way. Turns out a lot of people I knew I had either avoided that area due to construction or had been on the bridge earlier in the day. A week later, after reading the list of the dead and missing, no one I know is on that list. But people that were related to people both my Mom and Nick know, did die.
I did wonder about one person... a guy I went to school with. I knew he lived near there in the past. Turns out his friend had just driven him (and his wife) under the bridge probably less then a minute before it happened. His friend, Andy, wrote a very detailed blog entry andyblair.com . Matt is the guy I went to school with... he was the class president (and is suppose to be planning a reunion for this summer!!!!!)
Now they are spending the time trying to piece together what happened. There are still people missing somewhere in the Mississippi. My heart goes out to anyone affected. I hurt, we all hurt, for you.

C-Ya!