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Minneapolis, Minnesota Bridge Collapse During Rush Hour

Aired August 02, 2007 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It felt scary. Because first we thought we crashed, but then we felt like -- we felt us going down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you look out the window? What were you seeing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I didn't look out the window. All I saw was like I saw dust everywhere and people were screaming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Thursday morning to you, everyone. I'm Heidi Collins.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris.

Keeping an eye on developments in the Minneapolis bridge collapse. A tragic fall caught on tape. Just amazing, exclusive video to show you of a person sending it to CNN, not wanting to be identified. Anxious relatives, as you can imagine, waiting for word on missing loved ones. Divers searching, well, for bodies.

We are following breaking news, the Minnesota bridge collapse. Here is what we know right now.

The recovery effort is underway once again, but authorities say there is little hope of finding any more survivors. The medical examiner has lowered the death toll to four. That number is expected to fluctuate throughout the day. More than 60 people were injured. As many as 30 may still be missing. We expect a statement from President Bush on the bridge tragedy. That's expected next hour. And we will, of course, bring that to you live from the Rose Garden.

COLLINS: Witnesses, as you might imagine, describe a horrific scene. And authorities say the recovery will take a long time. CNN's John Roberts is joining us now live from Minneapolis with the very latest.

Good morning to you there, John.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.

The sun's been up for about three hours now here in Minneapolis. Rescue crews have been back in the water for about the last two hours. They had to suspend operations overnight with the darkness, the river current and the amount of debris. And the fact that the bridge is still considered unstable, even though it's on the ground, they didn't want to be putting rescue workers in the water.

But they're there now. They're going through all of these vehicles -- and there are as many as 50 of them in the Mississippi River this morning -- searching for people who may have been trapped inside and drown. A small bit of good news this morning when they downgraded the death toll from seven to four, but the bad news is, is that later on today and through tomorrow the death toll is expected to rise.

This, very quickly, switched from a rescue and rescue to a recovery operation, which as Fire Chief Jim Clack said, means that they're going to go much more slowly now, no sense of urgency about the effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JIM CLACK, MINNEAPOLIS FIRE DEPARTMENT: Things will not be happening quickly. We're concerned about the structural stability of the bridge, still the pieces that remain off the ground, and so we're going to be very careful to use the experts to make sure our rescue workers are safe. This is not a rescue operation any longer. It's a recovery operation, which means we move slower and more deliberately. We want to make sure and search everywhere. The fire department has a responsibility for everything above the water and the sheriff's department and other agencies are handling the operations in the river.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Fire Chief Jim Clack from a press conference about an hour and a half ago.

In the next half hour, we're expecting to hear more. The governor and the mayor of Minneapolis and the two senators from Minnesota are expected to address the press. They'll probably -- I don't know how much more information they could actually give us, Heidi, because there really is nowhere to go at this point.

A nine-member team from the National Transportation Safety Board will be on the ground very soon, down there taking a look at this bridge, trying to reconstruct the collapse to find out what the initial point was of failure. There has been some news out this morning about structural deficiencies in that bridge. Were any of them serious enough to cause the collapse? Was it a combination of that, plus the fact that they were working on the bridge deck. These are all things that the NTSB is going to be looking into.

My colleague, Don Lemon, has just joined me. He flew in early this morning from Atlanta.

And, you know, when you take a look at the enormity of this collapse -- I've seen collapses before. The Northridge earthquake. I think that you probably have to compare this with the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 where we saw that complete collapse of the Nimitz Freeway, which killed more than 40 people, just because it's such an immense structural failure.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And one interstate collapsed on top of the other. But also listens to eyewitness reports on the radio this morning and seeing it on television, folks talking about it, it sounded like thunder and then looking out their window and they said, oh, my gosh, is this an earthquake right in the middle of the Midwest?

But, you know, you were talking about the reports and the bridge structural problems. One thing they're going to be looking at is this report, John, that you've been mentioning all morning here from "The Star Tribune." Right here on the front page, they're talking about this U.S. Department of Transportation bridge inventory report in 2005 which cited structural problems.

Now this is according to this newspaper -- cited structural problems in this bridge and many bridges have the same status across the country. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke about these possible bridge problems just moments ago. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID, MAJORITY LEADER: Watching those pictures on television and listening to the accounts on radio and seeing the newspaper accounts and the pictures, this is a real tragedy. And my heart and I think the heart of all Americans go out to the people of Minnesota for this tragedy, to those that have died, those who have been injured and certainly families and friends of all those.

And I am confident that we'll find out why that disaster occurred. Right now we don't know. We have -- there's every reason to believe that it was not an act of terrorism, and I feel that that's the case based on hearing the governor of the state make an announcement this morning.

I would say this just in passing. After every storm there's -- the sun shines. And I think we should look at this tragedy that occurred as a wake-up call for us. We have all over the country crumbling infrastructure -- highways, bridges, dams -- and we really need to take a hard look at this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And according to that report, John, just reading here right from the paper, it said the highway bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River on Wednesday was rated as structurally deficient two years ago and possibly in need of replacement. And that, again, that is from "The Star Tribune" this morning. This is the front page of the paper. Obviously it's on every single paper in the country, and especially here in this area. That's the front page. Even on the back here, same thing here, John, from "The Pioneer Press." "I heard it crack," talking about eyewitness accounts to this tragedy here.

ROBERTS: And eyewitnesses that we've talked to say that they felt a severe vibrating motion just before the bridge let go. So what was the root of that vibrating motion? Was that just the bridge letting go or was there some that set up some sort of harmonic vibration?

I remember in science class we all saw the pictures of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse where about a 40 miles an hour wind reached the harmonic frequency of the bridge and twisted it around like a piece of taffy. Did something like that happen here? Maybe a combination of the construction, the traffic moving across?

What's so interesting though is that the traffic volume, even though it was bumper to bumper going across this bridge, was actually reduced because they had two lanes on either side that were out.

LEMON: Down to one lane, yes.

ROBERTS: So really I think there was only two lanes of traffic on either side. So even though it was bumper to bumper, still perhaps less weight and suddenly the bridge lets go.

LEMON: Yes. So everybody's going to be talking about this and talking about, you know, what's going to happen. But right now, really, you know, your hearts have to go out to the people here and the personal stories for the folks in this area.

And one of them, I mean right here, Heidi Collins. This is Heidi's town. I don't know if it's your hometown, Heidi, but I know that you lived here for a long time and you got some very disturbing calls from your dad last night, didn't you?

COLLINS: Yes, it was pretty tense at the house. So very, very lucky to report today -- we lived in the Twin Cities for quite some time, about 20 years. And, you know, it's the first thing that you do when you know that you have loved ones in the area, like I'm sure everyone did in that area last night, you make the phone calls, you send the e-mails and you try to make sure that your immediate family and your friends are OK. At this point, everyone in my life is OK, thank goodness.

But I know there are a lot of people out there this morning who have not been so lucky and are still waiting to hear some news of their loved ones. So we certainly wish them the very best.

LEMON: Absolutely, Heidi.

COLLINS: And, Don, we will be checking in with you throughout the rest of the program. John Roberts, thanks for being there for us. And we appreciate it.

ROBERTS: You bet.

HARRIS: Well, just another reminder. The president is going to be making a statement about the bridge collapse. That is scheduled for next hour in the 11 a.m. hour. We will, of course, bring that to you. The president finding out the news about this horrible accident yesterday. He found out about it last evening and quickly made calls to the governor of the state and the mayor as well.

So the president making a statement about this deadly bridge collapse the next hour and we will have that for you right here from the Rose Garden right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Today marks the first anniversary of CNN's iReport. The bridge tragedy in Minneapolis ranks as one of the highest responses we've ever had. At least 70 iReports and counting of these photos. Let's take a look at them now.

Were taken by Tim Davis with a Canon digital camera. Davis lives about a mile from the bridge. He tells CNN that he and a friend drove to the site and began snapping pictures. Photographs like these could actually help investigators figure out what caused such sudden and catastrophic failure.

What we do know is road construction was underway at the bridge at the time. A witness says traffic was bumper to bumper with the eight-lane bridge narrowed to two lanes in each direction. Also a freight train was passing beneath the bridge on the north side of the river at the time of the collapse.

Now if you have photos, video or eyewitness stories about the bridge collapse, send them to us now at cnn.com. Just click on "iReport" and you will be prompted through the process.

COLLINS: Want to quickly let you know some more information that we have here now regarding some press conferences. We're going to bring everything to you as soon as we can. But we are hearing coming up at 10:15 this morning, we will also be hearing from the governor and the mayor of Minneapolis. That's Mayor RT Rybak and Governor Tim Pawlenty. That will be coming our way at 10:15 Eastern Time. So in just a few minutes here now.

Meanwhile, investigators, as you have heard, are on the scene. Got a nine-member investigative GO team, they call it, from the National Transportation Safety Board. They are in Minneapolis and they have a very big job, trying to learn what may have caused this collapse. CNN's Kathleen Koch is covering the investigation for us from Washington now.

Good morning to you, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

Yes, as you mentioned, this is a major investigation for this nine-member team that has arrived in Minneapolis, making its way right now to the scene of the bridge collapse. The group left Washington, D.C. very early this morning before daybreak. Gary van Etten has been named the lead investigators.

But this is a disaster of such magnitude that the NTSB chairman himself, Mark Rosenker, has been deployed as well to be the primary spokesman on location. Also this morning, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters headed to the site of the disaster and she spoke as she left Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY PETERS, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: The most important thing for us to say right now is, on behalf of President Bush, Vice President Cheney, our agency and all of us, our thoughts and our prayers go out to the victims, the families, most who were injured and tragically those who were killed. That's our first priority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: So a multi pronged federal response to this disaster in Minneapolis. NTSB Spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz telling me now that the team is on the ground. A briefing is likely sometime this morning.

Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. We look forward to that.

Also, Kathleen, any idea where they'll begin? I mean we've said it so many times now what a huge, huge job this will be trying to find out where that first point of failure may be in that bridge. I can't imagine where they'll begin.

KOCH: It's going to be very tough, Heidi, but there'll be a very comprehensive, very methodical. They'll break up into teams and they'll look at everything from a to z. The construction, the design of this bridge, its maintenance history, the rescue response to the accident. Other factors like weather, water flow, traffic flow on the bridge.

The NTSB has deployed the head of its materials lab. He's a metallurgist. So he'll be looking at issues of corrosion, possible metal fatigue on the bridge. As you said, they're going to be looking at that failure point. Just what failed first. What precipitated that disaster. But as the NTSB has acknowledged to me this morning, that failure point could be under water and not locatable for quite some.

Heidi.

COLLINS: We're so used to talking about the NTSB GO teams in airplane crashes, but not so much with bridge collapses.

Kathleen Koch, thanks so much, live from Washington this morning.

Aging infrastructure. Many of the nation's bridges getting a failing grade. Is it as dire as it sounds?

HARRIS: And views from the scene. Incredible iReports pouring into CNN, covering all the angles.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Recovery efforts continue today. We are going to come back and talk about the river flow, the water temperatures and the weather forecast expected around Minneapolis. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Tragedy unfolding hour by hour in Minnesota. And here is the latest now on the deadly bridge collapse. The recovery effort resumed within the last couple hours, but authorities are saying hope of finding any more survivors is fading.

The medical examiner has lowered the death toll to four. That number is expected to fluctuate, though, throughout the day. Dozens of people were injured. Police say as many as 20 to 30 may still be missing.

We expect a statement from President Bush on the bridge tragedy coming up next hour. We will bring you that live.

Also want to make sure that we let you know that the governor and the mayor of Minneapolis, Mayor Rybak and Governor Tim Pawlenty, will be speaking any minute now. We are watching for that and we'll bring it to you just as soon as it happens.

HARRIS: You know, almost immediately after the bridge collapse, we were flooded with iReports. One of our iReporters, Casey McGovern, he is on the phone with us from Minneapolis.

Casey, thanks for talking to us.

CASEY MCGOVERN, BRIDGE COLLAPSE WITNESS: Yes, no problem.

HARRIS: Hey, Casey, how far away from the bridge do you actually live? Pretty close, I understand.

MCGOVERN: Yes, about 300 yards just straight up the Mississippi from where it fell.

HARRIS: And where were you at about, oh, 6:00 p.m. local time when this happened?

MCGOVERN: Well, I just got home from work. And one of my buddies called me and asked if I was OK. And I wondered what he was talking about. And he told me to go look out my window. And I went outside and saw the pandemonium going on. So I got on my bike and rode down towards the bridge.

HARRIS: So you didn't hear the crack, the sound of thunder, as it's been described by some, of the bridge absolutely collapsing? You didn't hear any of that?

MCGOVERN: Well, I mean Minneapolis is -- I live kind of by a fire station and it's usually pretty loud. So, you know, I didn't think anything of it. I mean I may have heard it and just thought it was a truck or something like that, you know, running into something. But I didn't really think about it.

HARRIS: So you hear this from your friends. You go outside and what do you see?

MCGOVERN: Well at first when I looked I saw the 10th Avenue Bridge and I thought that was the 35W Bridge, which it's right behind it. And so I didn't really think -- I was kind of wondering what the big deal was. And then as I got closer, I was like, oh, my God, the bridge is gone. And so it was kind of crazy to see it. So I went down to the north end of the riverbank and, you know, took some pictures of the scene.

HARRIS: What did you see?

MCGOVERN: There was tons of fire trucks, tons of cops. You know they were there right away. I was probably on the scene 20 minutes after it happened. And, you know, just saw tons going on and it was pretty crazy.

HARRIS: We're looking at your pictures now. And there was a moment when you just -- you have to talk us through this process because you're snapping the pictures and you want to stay in that moment. Are you at that same moment also taking in the magnitude of what you're seeing?

MCGOVERN: Yes. I mean at first it was disbelief. I mean I kind of thought of like the San Fran earthquakes, like in those pictures of the bridge collapse. And, you know, as I saw it, I was just trying to fathom, you know, it was like a 60 or 70-foot drop into the river from there. And in the center of the bridge, you know, was just laying there like it was, you know, part of the locks, which are just up the river from there. So it was really a crazy scene of kind of -- everyone there was kind of, you know, in disbelief. People were like, you know, just what happened?

HARRIS: Yes. Describe what you saw, what you could make out, of the rescue efforts?

MCGOVERN: They were great. I mean they had to use -- the stone arch bridge is like a footpath, bake path bridge, and there were cops and ambulances driving across it. There were cop cars I think that were overflowing with the police officers like to the point where the doors were open and they were hanging outside. I mean they were rushing to the scene and just kind of telling people to get out of the way. And I think most of the people were, you know, getting out of the way for them, obviously. And, you know, it looked like they were doing a great job. There's a fire station, you know, right -- probably three blocks from there. And so I'm sure they were on the scene right away.

HARRIS: So you talked to your friends today. Last question for you. You talked to friends no doubt about your experience today. What are you sharing with one another?

MCGOVERN: I mean most people are just, you know, making sure everyone's OK and kind of, you know, right when it happened, the cell towers were overflowed. So, you know, I had received a lot of phone calls because people know I live right by there but I couldn't, you know, call people back or anything. And then today it's kind of over e-mail and phone calls. Just kind of slowly, you know, just making sure everyone you know and work with, you know, made it to work safe today.

HARRIS: And you reached out to your family and your family knows you're OK, Casey?

MCGOVERN: The first person I called was my mom. So she was happy about that.

HARRIS: All right. Casey, thanks for the iReports. We appreciate it.

MCGOVERN: No problem.

HARRIS: Casey McGovern with us this morning on the phone.

COLLINS: Want to take a moment to show you pretty striking pictures that we've gotten in. We do have a before and after shot to show you of the 35W bridge here. Absolutely unbelievable.

Just to give you a little bit more information of what you're looking at now, obviously this goes over the Mississippi River. As you come into Minneapolis, you have a choice either to go 35E, which will take you into St. Paul or you can go 35W, across this bridge, which will take you into Minneapolis. This is right next to the Cedar Avenue Bridge. If you've seen some other pictures, you'll see that that bridge is, of course, still standing.

But we are told that this bridge went down in three separate sections right near the University of Minnesota in a little area called Dinkytown, which is kind of a cool place for kids who go to school there. Lots of restaurants and bars, bookstores and so forth. The seven corners area of St. Anthony Falls.

I mean there is just an unbelievable amount of activity and traffic on this and a lot of things to do right after you get over that bridge, center points of the city, the new Guthrie Theater, the Metrodome. You've heard about the Twins game that was in progress when this happened. Of course, everyone was kept there to help sort of contain this situation.

It is a freeway bridge, so there is no pedestrian bridge on top of it. You may have heard Casey talking about the pedestrian bridge, which is about a quarter mile away from this bridge, the Stone Arch Bridge, where people do a lot of bike riding and walking. So, boy, it is an absolutely striking picture to see that before and after. It happened so very quickly.

HARRIS: We want to check in with Rob Marciano now.

Rob, we know that there are divers in the water now in the Mississippi. Give us a sense of the condition that they're dealing with as they try to continue with this -- well, it's a recovery effort at this point.

MARCIANO: Well, Tony and Heidi, what complicates things with the recovery effort is what is directly upstream from where this accident happened.

Here's the state of Minnesota. The headwaters of the Mississippi, by the way, up in north-central Minnesota, Lake Itasca, and then they kind of filter down and, obviously, becoming a little bit more concentrated. And the flow becomes a little bit heavier. At the headwaters, the flow is only about a mile per hour. So that's slower than somebody would even walk.

But it gets a little bit more complicated. Heidi mentioned St. Anthony Falls, which is actually up from this dam. And there's a couple other dams that kind of go through town. This high-resolution picture was likely taken when the flow was a little bit stronger.

We haven't seen a whole lot of rain in Minnesota over the past couple of months, so the flow is actually a little bit below what it normally would be for this time of year. And certainly in spring it would be even stronger than that. So the flow could be a lot worse.

Water temperatures in this area are right now in the lower 80s. So divers are experiencing certainly ideal temperatures as far as water is concern. And the flow is a little bit hard to gauge. A little bit farther downstream, it goes at about three miles per hour. But hard to say just how fast it's moving as it gets compressed and thrown through this particular dam.

As far as what the weather is going to do over the next day or two, conditions are actually improving. We did have a little squall line move through last night and thunderstorms came in around that area shortly after the bridge collapse and the winds did pick up right before the bridge collapse, but probably not having anything to do with that.

But conditions weather-wise today, they're not expecting to be any sort of rainfall in the area. Temperatures will be in the mid 80s, which is a couple degrees above normal. But they have seen temperatures in the lower to mid 90s the past several days with high levels of humidity. So pretty comfortable and clear. Good visibility for recoveries efforts today.

Tony and Heidi.

COLLINS: That's so great because I think we were really worried when this all happened that we had been hearing so much about the storm moving in, it was really going to hamper those rescue efforts.

MARCIANO: Yes, it's done. We're good to go weather-wise.

COLLINS: OK. Very good. Rob, thanks.

MARCIANO: Sure.

COLLINS: Just a reminder now, quickly any minute were are waiting for the mayor of Minneapolis, RT Rybak, and the governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, to come and address the press and take some questions about the very latest that's happened in Minneapolis.

HARRIS: And we can't thank you enough. Many of you have been our eyes and ears to these, well, these pictures, these iReports, these -- well the horrific events in Minneapolis. Veronica de La Cruz has a closer look into our iReports and she's with us in just a couple of minutes here when we come back. You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: Anxious relatives waiting for word on missing loved ones and divers searching for bodies. We are following breaks news here in the Minnesota bridge collapse. Here's what we know right now.

The recovery effort is underway once again, but authorities say there is little hope in finding any more survivors. The medical examiner has lowered the death toll to four, but that number is expected to fluctuate throughout the day. Dozens of people were injured. Police say as many as 20 to 30 may still be missing.

We expect a statement from President Bush on the bridge tragedy next hour. He will make those comments from the Rose Garden. We will bring that to you live.

We are also awaiting a press conference from Mayor RT Rybak of Minneapolis, and Minnesota's Governor Tim Pawlenty. That is the setup. You see it there. We'll bring that to you just as soon as it happens as well.

HARRIS: Got to tell you, no one tells the story of what happened yesterday about 6:00 p.m. local time in Minneapolis better than the people who were there, many on the bridge and some just watching the rescue effort as it unfolded. Let's listen now to a witness to yesterday evening's rescues effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IAN PUNNETT, RADIO HOST: I saw the car myself. It had fallen from at least three stories. It tumbled and rolled off. The (INAUDIBLE), the minivan, frankly, was a little hard to tell and the woman got out of it with just a scratch on her forehead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And just want to let you know, today does mark the first anniversary of CNN's iReports. And we so appreciate you helping us with these reports. The bridge tragedy in Minneapolis ranks as one of the highest responses we've ever had. At least 70 iReports and counting.

These photos were taken by Heather Hauer, a student at the University of Minnesota right there in the area. She lives about two blocks away, in fact. Photographs like these could help investigators figure out what may have caused such a sudden and catastrophic failure. What we do know is road construction was underway on the bridge, on the surface of the bridge at the time. A witness says traffic was bumper to bumper with the eight lane bridge being narrowed because of that construction down to two lanes in each direction. Also a freight train was passing beneath the bridge on the north side of the river right at the time of the collapse. If you have photos, video or eyewitness stories about the bridge collapse send them to CNN.com. Just click on I-Report. It'll walk you through the process.

HARRIS: And let's get you know to our White House correspondent Elaine Quijano.

Elaine, we understand the president will be making a statement about the bridge collapse in about a half hour's time.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is actually part of a scheduled appearance in the Rose Garden, we should say, after he met with his cabinet. That meeting taking place right now. And on top of his remarks, he's going to be off the top making some comments about the bridge collapse.

Now, during the off-camera briefing a short time ago, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow called this bridge collapse unprecedented. And when he was asked whether or not it might, in fact, trigger inspections of infrastructure around the United States, Snow said there is a regular inspection process that takes place. He said in fact, when it comes to this particular bridge, in 2005, he noted, there was a report on this bridge noting structural deficiencies that resulted in a 50 rating, on a scale of about one to 120, 120 being the best.

Now Snow said that did not mean that there was a risk of failure, and he added that if an inspection report does identify distinguishes, then the state is responsible, he said, for taking corrective actions, which include repair and other things.

Snow added later this is, in his words, a tragic exception, said certainly the White House's thoughts and prayers go out to the families -- Tony.

HARRIS: And, Elaine, we understand the first lady is heading to Minneapolis. Was this already on her schedule?

QUIJANO: This was already on her schedule. And right now she's scheduled to head to the area tomorrow. Unclear exactly what her itinerary is going be at the moment, but certainly that trip is still on, obviously taking added significance now.

HARRIS: Our White House correspondent Elaine Quijano for us this morning. Elaine, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: Aging infrastructure, many of the nation's bridges get a failing grade, in fact, but is it as dire as it sounds?

HARRIS: And again, President Bush expected to address the tragedy in Minneapolis from the Rose Garden this morning. CNN will, of course, bring you live coverage. That's coming up, 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, and we are expecting to hear from Minnesota's governor and the mayor of Minneapolis in just moments at a news conference. We will of course bring that to you live when it happens here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Authorities say the recovery will be slow and very painstaking. For the latest, let's bring you live back now to Minneapolis and CNN's Don Lemon, who has just arrived there.

Don, good morning to you. DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. Unfortunately not such a good morning here. And I'm sure the rest of the country is feeling that way, watching all these pictures coming out of there.

As you said, it's going to be very, very slow. We heard that from investigators this morning, and they said they're doing that on purpose. They're taking their time, because this is no longer a rescue effort. Sadly it is a recovery effort.

I just want to set the scene here and take you -- just to show you we're just a short distance away from that bridge that collapsed. You can see it there. There's another bridge here that runs adjacent to it. Also close you can see bystanders, people standing on the bridge, looking over here really in disbelief.

You gave the latest numbers here, at least, last report, about 62 people injured in this, six of them in critical condition. And still a dozen, maybe more, almost 20 people still missing. Rescuers are now down, divers, I should say, down in the water. They went out about 7:30 local time, as soon as the sun came up to go back down into those cars. Could take about three days or more, according to the mayor here, R.T. Rybak, for them to look into the cars in the water and get some folks out.

Also just a short time ago, at a press conference at the hospital, Dr. John Hicks talked about, you know, the people who were still missing, the numbers who were lost already, and said really it's a miracle that more didn't lose their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOHN HICK, HENNEPIN COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: I think when you think about what the scene looked like, the fact that we had 80 people injured in itself is somewhat of a miracle that it's that low, but a lot of the victims we encountered that were on the bridge, fortunately were on portions of the span that didn't have a very long collapse and didn't drop very far, and had quite minor injuries, if they were injured at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Also we also want to tell you that there's going to be a press conference here. It was scheduled for 9:00 p.m. -- 9:00 a.m., I should say, 9:15 a.m. a.m. local time. That press conference has not gotten under way. But folks are supposed to speak there. Of course the governor, Tim Pawlenty, is supposed to speak. The mayor, R.T. Ryback (ph), and then we're getting word that Norm Coleman, Senator Norm Coleman is supposed to speak at that press conference as well, get some new information on that.

But sure they're going to be talking about the structural -- possible structural problems with the bridge. I mentioned this earlier, "The Star Tribune" here is reporting that according to a U.S. Department of Transportation Bridge Report, that there were structural problems with this bridge, and lots of bridges around the country have the same rating as this bridge, so this is sure to spark some sort of investigation into exactly what's happening with the bridges and if we do have possibly another catastrophe waiting to happen, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, I'm looking at the report along wit you, Don. It says, you know, bridge components usually have a rating from 0 to 9, 9 being the most excellent. That bridge had a rating of 4, apparently according to this. The deck was rated a 5, but I think overall it was structurally rated as a 4. So it really makes you wonder. It makes you wonder about many other bridges at this point, which is what everybody is talking about right now.

LEMON: And it also makes you wonder about, again, when you go across those bridges every day, all of us do, and I know you've been across this bridge a number of times. What are you hearing -- I know you're from here. What are you hearing from family members about how they're dealing with this and how people in the community are dealing with it?

COLLINS: Well, it's incredible. I talked to quite a few people last night from there, friends and family members, who I mean -- everyone is just really very stunned right now. It's like a long fixture that's been in Minneapolis to get you from one side of the river to the other, to get you into Minneapolis, where pretty much everything is, whether it be entertainment-wise, or going to the University of Minnesota. And to have that gone, it is just unbelievable, and more importantly gone in this way, just disappeared into rubble and dust.

LEMON: This was the connector to all of that, right? this is a connector to really the whole city and whole area here. And as you said, sadly it's gone, and then, you know, lost folks as well.

COLLINS: And I think what was scary, too, is it's both north and southbound lanes. There was really just absolutely no escaping for those people who were sitting in that traffic bumper to bumper because of all the construction we've been talking about. Absolutely nothing that they could do. That's the frightening point, I'm sure.

LEMON: Yes, we're awaiting that press conference, Heidi. As soon as that happens, we'll bring it you.

COLLINS: Yes, in fact, Don, I'm just looking at a note here now that says it has been pushed back to 10:00 Central Time, 11:00 Eastern, so we are looking at about 20 minutes or so before we expect that to get under way.

Don Lemon, thanks so much. We'll check back in with you later.

HARRIS: Thank you, Heidi.

And a little history about this bridge. It was built 40 years ago. It stretches more than 1,900 feet over the Mississippi. At the time there were concerns about the river's winter effect on the bridge. To handle that, a system of Humpty (ph) icing fluid, typically about 100,000 vehicles use the bridge daily. Two years ago a federal DOT bridge-assessment rated the bridge -- as quoting here -- structurally deficient, and possibly in need of repair. Still a number of other bridges across the country received that same assessment. A 2001 report from the University of Minnesota found the trusses supported the deck were not likely to crack in the foreseeable future.

COLLINS: Many of you have been our eyes and ears to the horrific events. Veronica De La Cruz has a closer look at your iReports coming up in just a few minutes right here in the NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: Let's get you back to Minneapolis now, and CNN's Don Lemon, and Don is standing by with a guest who is, boy, instrumental in helping so many people get through this tragedy.

Don, good to see you again.

LEMON: Yes, good to see you again. Of course, you know, Tony, the American Red Cross is always instrumental. When we have disasters like this really the one agency. There's a couple agencies we can rely on, and the Red Cross is always one of them, helping folks in need.

But Mary Dooley here with us. Mary, as a matter of fact, right where we're standing now in this hotel, you've been dealing with family members, people who ere involved in this horrific, horrific bridge collapse. Issues they're dealing with now, they're talking to you about. What are they coming to you for?

MARY DOOLEY, RED CROSS: They're coming for a place that can offer them some privacy as they cope with their emotions. It's a real roller coaster of emotions.

Of course there's a lot of fear. There's some ongoing hope. And they need a place where they can gather together, because there's some comfort and some strength when you're all going through it together.

And so Red Cross provides -- in a situation like this, we provide sort of a safe haven for them, a place that they can come and wait, hopefully for some good news, or prepare themselves.

LEMON: Yes, and then I just want to tell you this. If you need information on this, you have a Web site set up. It's called safeandwell.org, and also redcrosstc.org, which is Twin Cities.

But again, you know, dealing with tragedies like this all the time, I'm sure that you do, but it doesn't make it any easier when you see the folks come in.

DOOLEY: Oh, no, no, your heart breaks a bit each time with each family. What keeps us going, and many of us have been going just as long as the families, and knowing that we're bringing a bit of comfort to them in the best way that right now we can for them. Of course, we continue to do the feeding and the support for the rescue workers, but when you work with the families, you know that you're really reaches those who need the help the most.

LEMON: Yes, they do need the help the most, but also, doesn't it amaze when you see the heroes in all of this are the people who come in and try to rescue people, the folks who are going into that murky, treacherous water? I mean, even as a Red Cross worker, that has to astound you every time you see it.

DOOLEY: We see heroes all the time in the Red Cross, and sometimes they're our own volunteers, oftentimes they're the rescue workers. It buoys you up, even in despair, even in the worst situation, because everyone there is working to help people in whatever way they can.

LEMON: Mary Dooling, thank you for joining us. We appreciate what you do, and we hope you come back to update us throughout the day here. We'll be, sadly, here for this event. I wish I could have seen you under better circumstances. Absolutely, the American Red Cross is always here.

And as you've been hearing from Mary here, we heard about the possible structural problems with the bridges and all the technicalities, but really, really this story and this incident today is about the human tragedy, about the folks who lost their lives, about the people who were injured, about the people who still don't know where their family members are. The American Red Cross always here to help out.

We're going to get an update, Tony, in just a bit. We expect a press conference. It was moved back about 20 minutes. So as soon as that happens, of course, you know we're going to bring it to you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Back to you, Tony.

HARRIS: OK, very good. Thanks, Don. Appreciate it.

The history of collapse from San Francisco Bay to New York, a quick look at bridges that have failed.

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COLLINS: Updating the breaking news now out of Minnesota. The deadly bridge collapse. Here's what we know right now: The recovery effort is under way once again, but authorities say there is little hope of finding any survivors. The medical examiner has lowered the death toll to four, but remember that number is likely to go back up again. Dozens of people were injured. Police say as many as 20 to 30 people may still be missing. We are expecting a statement from President Bush on the bridge tragedy coming up in just the next few minutes. We, of course, will bring that to you live.

HARRIS: Still a bit part of our coverage out of Minnesota has relied on people at the scene sending us their photos, videos of the bridge collapse.

Veronica De La Cruz is here from her dot-com desk, and she has been sorting through dozens of I-Reports, and here's the great thing, whoa, the response has been almost overwhelming.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Overwhelming is right. You know, Breaking news like this is exactly the reason why CNN launched the I-Report initiative. One year ago today, as a matter of fact. Take a look at these. These are some photos, among the first images CNN received of the tragedy. People began recording the event just moments after it happened, Tony. Soon after they were pouring into our inboxes. Just to give you an idea, Tony, we were just talking about it. Each month CNN receives about 4,000 i-report submissions. This event, obviously, brought out the journalist in everyone, as we see by these images. We have received, Tony, nearly 100 i-Reports from the scene.

Now these pictures were taken by Josh Fisher, who says that he was at the corner of i-35 and University when he heard a rumble, and then saw a huge cloud of dust. Like many others, Josh raced up to the 10 Avenue Bridge, began snapping picture, which he then uploaded to us through CNN i-Report, and right now, for you out there, we're especially interested in hearing firsthand accounts of this bridge collapse. If you know someone who was there, maybe you were there yourself, videotape your story, send it to us at CNN.com. You can click on i-Report. That will take you through the entire process. Also you can find more online at CNN.com/iReport.

And I've been looking at all the submissions coming in. and In the next hour, I hope to share some video that was sent in from a couple; they were on their way to a Twins game, and they actually saw the freight train that was smashed by the bridges. The boxcars just flattened by the bridge.

HARRIS: And the other amazing piece of this, and you and everyone at dot-com deserve so much credit for this, for getting the word out on this, because they i-Reports started to fly into the inbox almost immediately.

DE LA CRUZ: Instantaneously, yes.

HARRIS: It felt like that, didn't it, to you?

DE LA CRUZ: Yes, absolutely.

HARRIS: All right, so next hour, we'll get an opportunity to see more of the i-Reports?

DE LA CRUZ: More of the videos, more of the pictures that are coming in.

HARRIS: Great. Veronica, we'll see you next hour.

DE LA CRUZ: We are waiting to see the president come out to the Rose Garden here and make some comments regarding the bridge tragedy in Minneapolis. You see him there now. He had a cabinet meeting earlier this morning, and he'll be talking about other issues, but let's hear know what he has to say about the tragedy.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: ... a cabinet meeting. One of the things we discussed was the terrible situation there in Minneapolis. We talked about the fact that the bridge collapsed and that we in the federal government must respond, and respond robustly, to help the people there not only recover, but to make sure that lifeline of activity, that bridge, gets rebuilt as quickly as possible.

To that end, Secretary Peters is in Minneapolis, as well as federal highway administrator Kafka.

I spoke to Governor Pawlenty and Mayor Rybak this morning. I told them that the secretary would be there. I told them that we would help with rescue efforts, but also told them how much we are in prayer for those who suffer, and I thank my fellow citizens for holding up those who are suffering right now in prayer.

We also talked about, in the cabinet meeting, talked about the status of an important piece of legislation before the Congress. We spent a fair amount of time talking about the fact that how disappointed we are that Congress hasn't sent any spending bills to my desk.

By the end of this week, members are going to be leaving for their month-long August recess. By the time they will return, there will be less than a month before the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. And yet they haven't passed one of the 12 spending bills that they're required to pass. If Congress doesn't pass the spending bills by the end of the fiscal year, cabinet secretaries report that their departments may be able to move forward with urgent priorities for our country.

It just doesn't have to be this way. The Democrats won last year's election fair and square, and now they control the calendar for bringing up bills in Congress. They need to pass each of these spending bills individually, on time, and in a fiscally responsible way. The budget I've sent to Congress fully funds America's priorities. It increases discretionary spending by 6.9 percent.

My cabinet secretaries assure me that this is adequate to meet the needs of our nation. Unfortunately Democratic leaders in Congress want to spend far more. The budget calls for nearly $22 billion more in discretionary spending next year alone. These leaders have tried to downplay that figure. Yesterday one called this increase, and I quote, "a very small difference from what I proposed." Only in Washington can $22 billion be called a very small difference. And that difference will keep getting bigger.

Over the next five years, it will total nearly $205 billion in additional discretionary spending. That $205 billion averages out to about $112 million per day, $4.7 million per hour, $78,000 per minute. Put another way, that's about $1,300 in higher spending every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year for the next five years. That's a lot of money. Even for career politicians in Washington. In fact, at that pace, Democrats in Congress would have spent an extra $300,000 since I began these remarks. There's only one way to pay for all these new federal spending without running up the deficit. And that is to raise your taxes. A massive tax hike is the last thing the American people need. The plan I put forward would keep your taxes low, and balance the budget within five years, and that is the right path for our country. I want to thank OMB director Rob Portman for his hard work in developing this plan.

Well, there you have the president's addressing the press here now from the Rose Garden. At the beginning of this speech, we heard him talk about the tragedy in Minneapolis, and offering his condolences. We also know that he spoke with Governor Pawlenty. That's happened at about 8:45 this morning, expressing his condolences to him and complementing him on the way that Minnesota has handled this crisis so far. He has also spoken with the mayor of Minneapolis, R.T. Ryback, a similar conversation, saying that he's praying for him and he's deeply sorry about what has happened there.

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