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Minnesota Bridge Collapse; Hero Helps Rescue Kids on School Bus
Aired August 02, 2007 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I knew the deck was going down, and there was -- and there was no question about it, and I thought I was going to die.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): The search for victims. The search for answers. What caused this disaster?
And America's bridges -- is anyone guarding against another catastrophe?
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: I think we should look at this tragedy that occurred as a wakeup call for us.
PHILLIPS: Special coverage right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon, live at the scene in Minneapolis.
Kyra, the only way to describe this is just horrendous.
PHILLIPS: And we're covering the bridge collapse in Minnesota from all angles.
Don, what can we expect?
LEMON: We're expecting a press conference. As we heard in the CNN NEWSROOM just a short while ago, we're expecting a press conference from the sheriff's department. The Hennepin County sheriff joined us in the NEWSROOM to tell us about the latest in the recovery efforts.
He says that the sheriff's department is in charge of the water recovery, telling us about a number of cars that they've identified as safe enough to get to in order to look in to see if there are victims still trapped inside. He said they were able to do some of that last night. But because of nightfall, they had to start their search back up this morning, which is exactly what they're doing now.
Everyone here pointing to the dangers that these folks are facing here, the ones who are going in to recover the debris and the cars, and what have you, especially the divers, up against the Mississippi, the mighty Mississippi, as we've been saying. Very murky, the currents are very dangerous, and still there is steel, there's debris, there is concrete in that water.
It's just been an unbelievable scene here, Kyra. We've been talking to families who are holding out hope that their family members are still alive, and this is a quote from them. They're hoping that their loved ones are Jane Does or John Does still in the hospital and maybe they just don't know who they are. Maybe they got a bump on their head and they can't remember or they're unconscious.
So, it's really been tough, but important to listen to the families who have been coming up here today and talking to the Red Cross. They're saying sometimes, you know, it's important for these people to speak to someone, even if it's the media, because in a way it helps them. It's sort of therapy for them to get it out.
So, a horrendous scene happening here in Minnesota. Again, a press conference expected shortly that we're going to hear from the sheriff's department, but he gave us the information before anyone else in the NEWSROOM, and we're hoping that he's going to join us later.
Kyra, I want to -- if you don't have any questions for me, I want to talk to you about one of the eyewitnesses to this whole horrific incident. It was a paddleboat captain.
He was out giving a tour of the Mississippi, 48 people and then four crew members, when all of a sudden, right in front, he saw this bridge collapse, cars teetering and then falling into the water. His name is Charlie Leekley. He's the captain of that boat.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. CHARLES LEEKLEY, MINNEAPOLIS QUEEN PADDLEBOAT: Faith plays strange roles in our lives. We're all -- we're all very lucky, but my heart goes out to those who suffered on this bridge.
I was -- I watched them as the bridge collapsed with the cars on top of it. I saw several cars that couldn't stop go over the bridge. And so as it sunk in, I think it sunk in that we should all be grateful for the time we have here on this planet, because anything like that can happen at any time, and it hits like a lightning bolt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Yes, unbelievable. And he said, you know, his -- what he was facing inside, sort of the struggle he faced as someone who is trained to go in that water and rescue people. He had his diving equipment with him. The struggle that he faced was wanting to jump into that water, but listening to the people who are in charge and knowing that if he got into that water he could have made the situation worse. And then he said just moments, if he had been, you know, just seconds away from tragedy, he could have been under this bridge when all of this happened. And that would have compounded the situation that's happening here.
We're going to have much more coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM, and I believe you're going to talk to someone who is a structural engineer who can give us some insight on bridges and collapses like this, if I'm correct -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: That's right. We're going to talk to that engineer and also update our viewers through you, Don, and other reporters there on the scene.
Meanwhile, a quick update on the disaster in Minnesota from the set here in Atlanta.
Somewhere between 20 and 30 people still missing right now in what's now officially considered a recovery operation. There's actually divers right now in the water looking for bodies.
The death toll for now remains at four, but that number is expected to climb. The investigation is up and running.
Teams from FEMA, the NTSB and other federal agencies are arriving, and $5 million has already been made available to help with this recovery effort. President Bush has expressed his condolences, and First Lady Laura Bush is expected in Minneapolis tomorrow to meet with families of those killed in the disaster.
Let's get back now to Don Lemon and also our Susan Roesgen, the two correspondents working the story for us, every part of the story from every angle -- Susan, Don.
LEMON: Absolutely, Kyra.
You know what? We've been talking about this whole thing, both of us, both Susan and I arriving at the scene very early in the morning. And, you know, no matter how many times you cover a tragedy, it still tugs at your heart when you see the situation here.
I know that driving here this morning, I experienced a little bit of angst listening to talk radio. You hear everyone's talking about it, there's a moment of silence, and then people in the street, you see them crying, and you see people gathering at the scene here.
What's been your impression so far?
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I saw a family crying at the Minneapolis airport as we came in this morning. And I think it was really touching in your interview, Don, when you had the husband say, "I hope my wife is a Jane Doe somewhere in some hospital and just hasn't been able to reach out to me, or maybe she's not conscious," instead of thinking that she might actually be dead.
As we've been talking about, the real issue is what caused this bridge to collapse.
LEMON: Right.
ROESGEN: And again, we were talking, both of us earlier, to the sheriff here, who said that he's still treating this as a crime scene, not because they believe any foul play was involved, but they want to be meticulous in their search for the clues.
LEMON: Yes. And they have to do that. And the cause as well that everyone is wondering about, was this bridge in such disrepair that officials and people here in the city and here in the state should have known about it and should have taken it out of service?
And we know that that bridge was being repaired and that it was down to one lane in each direction, and we saw the front of this that we've been showing here, the "Star Tribune" this morning talking about this bridge. The bridge was rated structurally deficient in 2005, and that was the information that came out at a press conference with the National Transportation and Safety Board. Also with federal officials here.
ROESGEN: That's true.
LEMON: And pledging as much money as they can to try to get this back up. But still, the big question is, Susan, should this bridge have been closed long before this happened?
ROESGEN: Well, that may be a question for a lot of bridges all across the country with our aging infrastructure. But also, Don, just in the last hour or so, the National Department of Transportation has expedited $5 million just to basically clean up the debris here and get the bridge more secure, not even yet to begin the repairs.
I think also as we talk about some of these reports, there were two reports in the last six years, one by the U.S. Department of Transportation and one by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Both of which said there were deficiencies in this bridge, that there was fatigue, that there was stress that could have been caused by car vibrations, by heavy truck vibrations, or simply by the jackhammers of a construction crew.
LEMON: Yes.
ROESGEN: But both of these reports did say that the engineers did not believe that the bridge was in any danger of collapse.
LEMON: Right.
ROESGEN: So they knew it would have to be repaired, but they didn't seem to think that the danger was imminent.
LEMON: And the big question -- or the big news that's coming out as well is that there are 70,000 to 80,000 of these bridges nationally that have the same ranking. This bridge was rated 50 out of 120, you know, in the U.S. Do we have the same problems? And of course what's going to remind people of this and how important it is, not only that lawmakers are talking about it, but that video that we have, the traffic camera video and the surveillance video, the actual collapse of this bridge, and you see cars and people going into that water. And sadly, losing their lives.
We're going to continue to update you throughout the day and the evening here on CNN. Susan Roesgen here on the scene. Soledad O'Brien, Anderson Cooper is here as well, Brian Todd.
A whole host of CNN reporters, correspondents, producers, camera people. We are on it, and we're going to keep them honest, as "AC 360" says.
We're going to continue to follow the story throughout the day.
PHILLIPS: All right. Don and Susan, thanks so much.
We also have some before and after images to show you of the I- 35W bridge. Take a look at this.
On the left, you can see the bridge design, including that steel arch that spanned the entire river. It was actually designed that way to make it easier for river traffic to pass underneath.
Now, looking down from above, again, before and after the collapse, you can see how the bridge and its eight lanes served as a major traffic artery. It opened for traffic in 1967.
And a little history about the bridge. It was built 40 years ago and stretches more than 1,900 feet right over the Mississippi.
There had been concerns about the effect of the brutal winter weather on this bridge, and to handle that, a computerized system was designed to pump de-icing fluid into the bridge as needed. Well, typically, about 100,000 vehicles use that bridge daily. Two years ago, a federal DOT bridge assessment rated that bridge as -- and we're quoting here -- "structurally deficient" and possibly in need of replacement.
Still, a number of other bridges across the country received that same assessment. And Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty said that the bridge was inspected by the state both in 2005 and last year, and no structural deficiencies were identified.
Investigations -- or investigators rather for the National Transportation Safety Board are already on the scene. And they're trying to determine why that bridge collapsed.
Our Kathleen Koch is in Washington.
Kathleen, what do we know about the investigation so far? We're hearing the governor say one thing, but then we're reading about all these various reports. Bottom line, there were structural deficiencies. KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, that is the bottom line that the NTSB is going to try to get to, as well as other members of the federal government. It's really all hands on deck when it comes to the response to this bridge collapse.
Transportation secretary Mary Peters, for example, promising $5 million immediately to help restore traffic flow, clear debris, begin repair work. Also, bridge and engineering experts from the Federal Highway Administration are being made available to help.
And when it comes to the NTSB, 19 safety board investigators, experts in everything from engineering, materials, and metallurgy, to the survivability of such a disaster, are now beginning their work on site. But chairman Mark Rosenker says this will not be a speedy process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ROSENKER, NTSB CHAIRMAN: But with that said, this will be a complex investigation. There are engineering issues that we are going to have to determine. There are material issues which we're going to be studying. And they don't come quickly.
The first thing we must do is recover the pieces, and after we recover these pieces of the bridge, we will begin actually trying to reassemble them not in a way where it's actually standing, but kind of in a jigsaw puzzle way, flat, so we can look at the various parts of this bridge and understand what made it fall down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Rosenker says investigators will also be viewing all video or photos of the collapse, enhancing them, seeing what information they hold. The NTSB says it will also put out a number for residents who either collected such video and photos, or who were eyewitnesses, in order to get sus as much data as possible on what happened.
Now, Rosenker says this process will be "comprehensive, thorough, but expeditious." Still, though, he says, Kyra, it will take at least a year.
PHILLIPS: All right. Kathleen Koch following the investigative part of this story for us.
We'll continue to talk to you throughout the afternoon.
A lot more ahead. We're going to hear from an eyewitness who saw the plume of smoke as the bridge went down.
Plus, we're going to talk to an engineer about how and why this happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We're still trying to discover how exactly that bridge collapsed. Was it years of weather affecting it? Was it a system that failed that was supposed to contribute to the de-icing process during winter? Was it the way it was built, the concrete?
We are still investigating that. A number of surveys have already come out saying it was structurally deficient, that that came forward in 2005, 2006. A lot of back and forth on who should be held accountable and what went wrong.
We are on top of that, we are investigating it, and we will bring you more information on that investigation.
Meanwhile, the number of stories coming forward about the heroes within this collapse. One young boy, Jeremy Hernandez, saw that a school bus of children was trapped on this bridge, and you know what he did? He went over there, he kicked open the door, and he helped save every one of their lives. He gave a news conference just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUESTION: A lot of the kids had talked a little bit about your efforts to help them. And I'm just curious what was in your mind and what you did.
JEREMY HERNANDEZ, HELPED RESCUE KIDS ON SCHOOL BUS: When it happened, I thought I was dreaming, because I was just sleeping. I was tired.
I woke up at 9:00 and took the kids to go to swimming lessons and came back to get ready to go get some other kids. I was kind of tired.
So I went to sleep, and one of the kids woke me up right before we hit the bridge. I was looking at the bridge, and I remember, because I was looking at the dam and I was thinking (INAUDIBLE) down there.
Everything was going through my head, and then I had seen folks cross through, and then I just heard a big bang, and I thought we were in a car accident. But then I saw the bus going down, and I felt like I was going over (INAUDIBLE).
And then it crashed, boom, it landed. And then it felt like we kept still going. So then it went down again. And it crashed and just stopped.
And then you could hear kids like moaning and crying, and the dust was in the air. You couldn't see the kids yet though. And when the dust settled down, they all just started screaming, screaming, "We're going to go in the river! We're going to go in the river!"
Then I looked over at the river, and then my heart started beating fast. And I just jumped over the seats and I opened the back of the door.
I kicked the coolers out, and then I turned around and tried to dump kids off the bus. All the kids were lining up on the bridge right there by the bus, and I could feel the bridge still shaking, and trying to tell them, "You've got to get off the bridge, you've got to get off the bridge."
And then people were running up to the bridge handing them to me, and I'm handing kids over to the guys that were on the street right below it. And...
QUESTION: Jeremy, how old are you?
HERNANDEZ: Twenty.
QUESTION: Twenty years old?
QUESTION: And your last name, Jeremy?
HERNANDEZ: Hernandez.
QUESTION: Hernandez?
QUESTION: Could you spell that for us?
HERNANDEZ: H-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-Z.
QUESTION: Did it feel like a long time or no time at all?
HERNANDEZ: From when?
QUESTION: From when you first started to go down to when...
HERNANDEZ: Yes, it felt like forever.
QUESTION: Jeremy, tell us more about the kids. What were they like?
HERNANDEZ: They were all screaming. They were all -- they were thinking they were going to die, even when we were safe.
They just -- they wanted their parents. They didn't want nobody to leave them. They all tried to hold on to all the staff at once, and they just didn't want to let go. They just -- I don't think they knew that they were safe yet until they had seen their parents.
QUESTION: What was the age range of the kids there, and what is your role with the group here?
HERNANDEZ: The age limit I believe was kindergarten and up to seventh, eighth, ninth. We got that go to high school that work with us. And my role here is I'm the gym coordinator. So I'm in the gym with them every day, doing things, activities.
QUESTION: People are calling you a hero. What do you think when you hear that?
HERNANDEZ: I'm just glad to be there to help them. I don't know what I would have did if I would have turned on the TV and seen it on the TV and heard that one of them died or...
QUESTION: Jeremy, you mention that kids were saying they were going to die, and that they were very -- that they're young and they're very scared. But, you know, you're not much older than some of the high school kids.
Time stopped for you and your cool head prevailed. But what was going through your mind while you were running through the seats...
HERNANDEZ: I don't want to die. I don't want to die. We're getting off the bus.
The bus was -- it felt like the bus was still moving, or it could have been just the gravity that was pulling me back into the seats. But it felt like we were still moving, and I didn't want to go into the river. I have been in the river before. I don't want to go that way.
QUESTION: When you see the pictures today of how close your bus was to ending up in the river, what do you think?
HERNANDEZ: I didn't really think the whole bridge there went like -- I thought it was just our bus. I didn't know until I turned around and I had seen cars in the river. And that's when it really kind of hit me, but it didn't really hit me until I got home and I was safe and I was -- I had time to think, like, what did I do the whole day.
QUESTION: Did you know who the guys were that you were handing kids to, or were they just guys...
HERNANDEZ: They were just people that were rushing up trying to help.
QUESTION: How many kids did you pass to them would you say? Any idea?
HERNANDEZ: I don't -- I don't remember counting. I just remember grabbing them and putting them down. Grabbing and putting them down. I couldn't -- I don't know the exact number.
QUESTION: A lot of the kids describe you as a hero. What do the kids mean to you?
HERNANDEZ: They're like -- like my brothers, my little sisters. I have been working there for five years. I feel like they're a part of me. Every day I come I come to see their smiles.
QUESTION: Do you feel lucky?
HERNANDEZ: Oh, yes, lucky. Lucky that I'm alive. Lucky that I can live to see another day. Lucky that no kids were killed or seriously injured.
QUESTION: Did you see the semi that was on fire? And was that when you were taking the kids off, or did you see that later?
HERNANDEZ: I didn't really look at any other cars until we got the driver -- the bus driver off the bus. That's when I had time to really look, because I was still on the bridge and I was looking to make sure that there were no other kids running around with us or on the bridge where (ph) it collapsed.
And I was looking at the semi. And I was thinking to myself, I'm glad we timed it perfect. If we would have been a little faster or a little later, we could have been in the river or crushed by the blocks of cement.
QUESTION: Was it difficult to get the driver out?
HERNANDEZ: She kind of -- she moved on her own. She (INAUDIBLE) like I had. So she was moving. She just wanted to make sure that everybody was OK. She told me everybody was off the bus.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
QUESTION: Did you stay until everyone was off the bus?
HERNANDEZ: I stayed until everybody got home with their parents.
QUESTION: Where were you sitting on the bus when it happened?
HERNANDEZ: Second seat from the back, third seat.
QUESTION: Did you get hurt?
HERNANDEZ: My hip hurts. My leg, but hopefully it's nothing long term. I'm going to live. That's what I'm worried about.
QUESTION: Were you on the right side so you could see...
HERNANDEZ: I was on the right side, correct, looking at the falls.
QUESTION: Describe that feeling as the bus was going down. What was going through you're your mind? What did it feel like?
HERNANDEZ: It felt like we were on a roller-coaster ride at Valley Fair (ph) and my stomach was in my chest. And I was waiting for it to stop. And I thought we were going to end up in the water, and I was just thinking, like, how can we -- so many things were going through my mind -- I don't want to swim. I can't swim and help kids. I'm glad that we didn't end up in the water.
QUESTION: Were you able to sleep last night, or are you just running over this in your head over and over?
HERNANDEZ: I didn't go to sleep until 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, and I was back up at 9:00.
QUESTION: Why is that?
HERNANDEZ: My parents -- my mom was calling me, telling me that she loved me. And things were going through -- I was just making sure that all the kids were OK. I was just thinking about the kids and staff members that were injured, people at the hospital. Hoping that they were OK, nothing that was long term.
QUESTION: Does your mom know you were on that bus?
HERNANDEZ: Yes. She said she thought she seen me being wheeled away on a stretcher.
QUESTION: So the other -- you guys observed Jeremy doing this? Were you guys helping out? What were you guys doing?
QUESTION: Can you come to the microphone?
QUESTION: Can you guys get over a little bit?
QUESTION: Can you give us your names, too?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: I'll tell you what, more than 50 kids on that school bus that you're looking at right there had a number of guardian angels, but the main one was that 20-year-old, Jeremy Hernandez.
They were on their way to the swimming pool. They were on a summer youth program field trip.
Jeremy, one of the camp counselors, was on the bus when that bridge collapsed. He was the first one knocking down the door and making sure every one of those kids got out of that bus.
And you heard him. You heard him talk about how he was just praying they didn't go into the water, but he knew he had to get every one of those children off that bus, and he did.
Twenty-year-old Jeremy Hernandez being hailed as a hero as he helped those children. We're going to actually talk to him live coming up a little later in the NEWSROOM.
And, you know, Chad Myers, you are a man of all trades, not only meteorologist, but you have been working the history of that bridge and now talking about the depth of that water. And just imagine if those kids in that bus did plunge into the water. I mean, the depth there, there's hardly any clarity. I mean, divers are having a tough time right now in that recovery mission.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, exactly.
A lot of this collapse, though, Kyra, actually didn't happen over the water. A lot of the collapse happened in the spans between where the bridge connects to the land.
This is all elevated all the way to the water here, and elevated from here all the way down to where it connects to the land there. But under the bridge, I mean, I must have had 50 e-mails about this, so I kind of went digging.
What's the depth of the water in the river right there? And actually, it's only about eight feet, unless you get to where the ship channel is, which is right here.
This is a lock. Actually, this lock is going to take you on up -- this is Lower Anthony (ph) lock. And it's going to take you on up a little higher in elevation.
And these locks go up and down. And earlier, we were talking to a captain who said this goes up about 23, 25 feet, to go from the high falls to the low falls. We also know -- we did hear a little bit ago that they're holding more water back to lower the water level if they can a little bit to kind of maybe get some of the submerged cars at least a little bit out of the water so they can kind them a little bit easier.
The whole area there, we checked earthquakes, we checked -- we checked anything that could possibly go wrong naturally. And so far, I guess what you don't find you don't find. But there's just nothing that we can find.
There was no shaking, there was no big wind gust event. There was no thunderstorm in the area. So we'll keep digging.
PHILLIPS: And you know, Chad, what's interesting, Jim Burnett, the former NTSB chairman, is saying that there should be not only a look at the cracking, but also the vibration. He was saying that there was vibration from construction work that might have contributed to this, right? But he also said there was a train that was under that bridge that may have been moving, contributing to the vibration to the bridge.
Isn't that interesting? I haven't heard anything about the train vibration yet.
MYERS: There is a train. There was a train under there. In fact, there were even some pictures of the train.
I tried to notice whether the train was actually still moving and was impacting the bridge at the time, because you would kind of obviously notice a derailment behind the bridge if the train was moving. Those cars aren't going to stop all at one point.
And so, I didn't see that. I didn't see any accordion of cars behind the train or where this actually fell and would have stopped the train in its tracks.
So I don't know that there was actually any movement going on there whatsoever. But there's the area right there where it's only about eight feet deep, right there in the middle part of the channel.
PHILLIPS: And, you know, Chad, you look at this, whether it's -- you know, whatever contributed to this, whatever type of vibration or cracking. A bridge just doesn't collapse out of nowhere. It has to experience decay through the years. So obviously there will be people that will be held accountable for not doing their jobs.
MYERS: Literally one bolt, one rusted rivet may have broken in the wrong place, and because this bridge was built in 1967, before the collapse of the Silver Bridge in 1969, that collapse of the Silver Bridge, Ohio-West Virginia Bridge, that bridge did not have redundancy. Which means if one part fails, the rest of it is going down.
Now bridges aren't built that way anymore. If this bridge was a newer bridge, the piece that failed would have failed, but the rest of the bridge would have stayed up. What happened on this bridge is one part failed and then the bridge pieces kept going down and down.
We have this pictures. Let's go back to this CNN exclusive video here. This video is when the bridge actually is falling from the main span, it's falling down from the middle.
But I don't want you to focus on the main span, which is right here. I want you to focus on the area just to the west of there. Look. Now, look up to the top. See, there's still that span.
That span is still standing there, even though the middle span is gone. Well, wait just a few seconds. Still standing.
Now it is gone, too. And that's what the lack of redundancy caused. That span should not have fallen down and would not be falling down if this was a newer bridge -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Yes. We're going to talk to an engineer actually involved with checking those types of bridges, building those bridges, who lives there in the Minneapolis area, Colonel John Christensen (ph), district engineer and commander there in Minneapolis. And we'll direct some of these questions straight to him.
Chad Myers, thanks so much.
MYERS: You're welcome, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, views from the scene, incredible I-reports pouring in to CNN, covering all the angles, straight ahead from the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't know what was going on. My eyes were closed. I opened them. I saw cement blocks in the front of the car, and then all of a sudden we were stopped, and our car is perpendicular to the ground.
PHILLIPS: Now, President Bush promises a robust federal response to the Minnesota bridge collapse. Among the federal agencies responding, the Army Corps of Engineers. Colonel Jon Christianson is the commander and district engineer for the St. Paul District, of the Corps of Engineers. He joins us live from Minneapolis.
Colonel, thanks for being with us. Why don't you tell us how you're going to get involved with regard to the debris and the rescue operations. What you can offer right now. COL. JON CHRISTIANSEN, ARMY CORPS OF ENG.: Kyra, I'd like to say thank you for having me on. And on behalf of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, I would like to send the condolences out to the victims of this tragic accident.
I would also like to let you know that, although we are not the lead agency in the clean-up, we are standing by with assets to help in the recovery, if asked to do so by the Minnesota authorities.
I will tell you that when the bridge went down last night, it went down just south of our lock and dam, on the river, and we had emergency boat crews from the lock and dam help with the rescue effort. As of this point, we have not formally been asked to do any debris clean-up or any other type of activity on the river.
PHILLIPS: So, Colonel, let me ask you a couple questions. I want to get your perspective, kind of get a little bit of your expertise. You are the district engineer. You're the commander of the Corps, there with regard to hundreds of bridges.
You obviously are not responsible for this bridge, but I want to ask you a couple questions about bridges. With regard to these federal studies that came out, that found this bridge "structurally deficient". If, indeed, that happened with one of your bridges, if you got a report that said, Colonel, your bridge in such and such area is structurally deficient, would that concern you?
CHRISTENSEN: It would be a matter of concern. If the funding was available, we'd go ahead and do the best we could do to fix that bridge. As you know, across the country the funding is limited to go ahead and fix all the infrastructure in the country.
PHILLIPS: When you see something like this though, do you stand back and say wow, this is what happens when we do not fund problems that are ignored?
CHRISTENSEN: I don't know if this particular problem was ignored. That's outside my purview. Like I said, I didn't see the reports on this particular bridge. But it does make you stand up and take notice that, yes, we have to do something to continue building the infrastructure in this country. And I'm sure the leaders out there are making sure that that funding becomes available, and we, obviously, will have a systemic plan to fix what we can.
PHILLIPS: And would you be concerned if you received a report that said one of your bridges had cracking?
CHRISTENSEN: I would be very concerned, and like I said, I haven't received any reports on any of the 250 bridges that are within the purview of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, but I know it would be an element of concern if we did see that report.
PHILLIPS: How would you respond as a colonel, as a district engineer, and commander if you got a report saying there was cracking? What would be your immediate response for something like that? CHRISTENSEN: Well, I haven't encountered that particular situation at this tenure in my command. I've only been in command for about two months. But I tell you it would -- we would make sure that we could do everything to promote safety on that bridge. And if we had to get authority to shut it down, that's what we'd do.
Obviously, we'd try to get funds to get that problem fixed.
PHILLIPS: What about weather conditions?
CHRISTENSEN: Again, funds are limited.
PHILLIPS: Sure, sure.
It seems everybody always talks about limited funds when it comes to things like that. And it's heartbreaking, especially when you see a tragedy like this. With regard to weather conditions in Minneapolis, the cold winter, the salt that is put on these bridges, do those types of things contribute to the deterioration of bridges?
CHRISTENSEN: Like I said before, I can't talk specifics on this bridge, but I'm sure --
PHILLIPS: I'm just talking about any bridge, Sir. I'm just talking about any bridge.
CHRISTENSEN: Any bridge? That would be a likely contributor to a problem on the bridge. And that is taken into account when you design these particular bridges. The freeze and the thaw, and the amount of salt you have to put on it, and the wear and tear and fatigue the bridge is going to encounter are all part of the design process.
PHILLIPS: We will be looking a lot in the design process and all the investigation in what happened there in Minneapolis.
Colonel Jon Christianson, appreciate your time.
CHRISTENSEN: Thank you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We'll get a different perspective with our online coverage of the bridge collapse at CNN.com. Continual live feeds from our affiliates. Some amazing iReports and more. See it live right now at cnn.com. We'll have more in the NEWSROOM in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, the collapse of the I-35W bridge is an emotional story for the people of Minneapolis, and for you, the viewers across the country that are watching. But perhaps the most deeply affected are those first responders, who risk so much, to rescue so many people -- some of whom can't saved, just comforted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF TIM DOLAN, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE: We know of several people who are pinned or trapped, and at the time we left them they were deceased. And I'll just leave it at that. And we also know there are several vehicles that were in the water that we haven't gotten to yet. But as far as pinned or trapped, there are several people. I'll just say that.
QUESTION: Some of those people survived? Or were they saved?
DOLAN: There was an individual case where an individual was severely obviously severely injured, and was talking to medical personnel, and was able to say his good-byes to his family, and he passed on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Beyond the human impact, the I-35 bridge could have had a major economic impact for the Upper Midwest. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange, has been tracking that part of the story with all her producers and researchers. A lot of major companies in that area using that bridge.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Because the I-35 bridge is part of the I-35 corridor, which goes from northern Minnesota all the way down to the -- Mexican border basically, it's part of an important trucking route, Kyra.
We spoke with the president of the Minnesota Trucking Association, who says this could impact paper products shipped from Canada. UPS, meanwhile, has a huge distribution center in Northeast Minneapolis. UPS says it expects package delays only in the local area, but hasn't seen any yet.
Northeast Minneapolis is a large manufacturing center. Many of the alternate routes do not allow trucks. So that creates some big problems, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: What are they doing to solve the problem?
LISOVICZ: Well, the Trucking Association is asking the governor, Kyra, to lift those restrictions on alternate routes around the bridge. And the business community in Minneapolis is mobilizing. I spoke to the CEO of the Minneapolis downtown council, who says he will be meeting with the mayor and transportation officials tomorrow as well as representatives from the largest corporations in the state. City Hall, tomorrow afternoon, about ways to lessen the impact on the 165,000 people who work in downtown Minneapolis, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Susan, what are you hearing from some of the large corporations in that area? I know a lot of them are giving back, sending in food and supplies.
LISOVICZ: That's right. It's something we've seen before, very fast and very gratefully received, whether it's Hurricane Katrina or 9/11.
Minneapolis, Kyra, is home to a lot of big companies, like Target, which says it's been providing clean shirts and chairs for workers to sit in, among it's donations. General Mills, another area company, says it will donate $50,000 to the Red Cross, set up a company blood drive, and hand out granola bars to relief workers.
The Red Cross says the Westin, Panera Breads, Chipotle, Papa Murphies, Outback Steakhouse, as well as local groceries have either been calling, they have been bringing food by. They have just been helping out tremendously for those massive efforts that are going on in Minneapolis.
Here in the New York financial community, well, things are quieter and we're grateful for that. We're seeing some modest gains. At the moment the Dow, right now, is up 23 points. The Nasdaq is up 7.
There are still worries about the mortgage market. Accredited home lenders is in focus. Its stock right now LEND, as in lend, is down 37 percent after it said it could be forced out of business. But overall a quiet day, Kyra. Back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Susan Lisovicz from the New York Stock Exchange. Thank you.
Don, we've been hearing incredible accounts from people who were there when the bridge collapsed. And you've got even more for us.
LEMON: We do. And we're going to talk about that a little bit later on. But, Kyra, you can imagine people here really still think that they're dreaming. A lot of people saying, you know what, it still hasn't set in yet. They can't believe just how huge this issue is, and this bridge collapse.
An amazing story, and amazing stories of survival and people waiting for family members when the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNE ENGEBRETSEN, MOTHER IS MISSING: Just kind of surreal. We've got to stick together and be a family because that's what she'd want us to do.
LEMON: Talk to me about your mom. You're waiting for your mom. You told me your mom adopted you, when you were just little kids, from Columbia. How old were you? Tell us about that.
A. ENGEBRETSEN: I was three months and my sister was four months and my parents adopted us from Bogata, Columbia. I think we're two of the luckiest girls in the nation right now, because our parents are wonderful people.
LEMON: What do you want folks to know about your mom?
J. ENGEBRETSEN: Just pray. Just pray, please. That's all we can ask for right now, just hoping. Just be positive and everything will be OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That was the Engebretsen family, still awaiting word from their loved one, their mother, who is 60 years old. We learned from the dad, Ron Engebretsen, that she doesn't normally take that route to work. She took another route, which was this bridge, probably because of the construction and needed an alternate route to go because there was so much traffic. Came across that bridge and sadly, they believe, that she was involved in this accident somehow.
What he told me earlier, the dad, is that they're holding out hope. He wants his daughters to be positive. And he's saying, you know, in their words, he's hoping that she's a Jane Doe, somewhere in the hospital, maybe unconscious, maybe doesn't know who she is, but they believe she survived this horrific event, and the nation is hoping as well.
Tons of families, thousands of families are dealing with the same thing -- I should say dozens of families, as well dealing with the same thing today. Not knowing where their family members are, not knowing if they're hurt, haven't heard anything. Others are dealing with injuries, and others sadly dealing with loss as well.
Let's talk about the eyewitnesses in all of this. We have that video from the surveillance cameras, from the traffic camera of that actual bridge collapsing. That video made all of us eyewitnesses to that after the fact, after it happened. But the people who were on the interstate, on I-35, on this whole area which the interstate criss- crosses here, there were folks who witnessed this accident, like Will Farley and his girlfriend, Holly.
Were you on your way -- were you taking her to the University of Minnesota? She goes to the U of M, were you taking her --
WILL FARLEY, EYEWITNESS OF BRIDGE COLLAPSE: She does.
LEMON: You were taking her there, you guys were hanging out in Dinky Town, as they call it.
FARLEY: We were actually trying to get to Dinky Town to head to St. Paul, because of road construction. We were limited as towards, you know, how we can get around the city. So from that point started crossing over that bridge right there, which is University, which heads right into Dinky Town.
LEMON: So you were actually going perpendicular to the bridge. Not parallel.
FARLEY: Correct.
LEMON: You were above the bridge.
FARLEY: Right above the bridge.
LEMON: Right above the bridge, and as soon as you started crossing above the bridge, on another bridge, what happened?
FARLEY: From that point --
LEMON: There is a puff of smoke.
FARLEY: It was more dust, and it flew right above the cars, and at which point we didn't know what to think. Your immediate reaction is there's construction. There's a fire. But when you start driving over that bridge and you see 35W is no more and -- you don't know what to think.
LEMON: How are you dealing with this? I can't imagine witnessing that stuff?
FARLEY: Your first response is obviously shock. That's cliche to say, but you don't know the magnitude of an accident like this. I mean, we went down right away to the riverfront, under the bridge, to see what was going on. We didn't know if there was live traffic on there because there's been construction. And I mean -- initially you're scared to death. You don't know what type of people are on that bridge and who made it out alive.
LEMON: Are you OK?
FARLEY: I'm good. I'm good.
LEMON: You said your girlfriend is not doing well today.
FARLEY: I think it's just the shock of an accident happening close to home. I don't know -- everybody takes accidents differently. My initial response is shock. Once you put together the fact that that had rush hour traffic on it, and it's a bridge that's collapsed, you can only imagine all the cars that fell in there, and it's scary.
You don't know if any of your friends are in there. You don't know who is in there. It's not a small campus, but it's a pretty nightly knit community. You never know who is involved in an accident like this.
LEMON: In your words, I mean, you told me earlier, you said your girlfriend wasn't having it when she saw it. What does that mean?
FARLEY: When we got down to -- when got down to the scene of the accident, there was nobody there. There were no paramedics, there was no police, there was with us. We ran out of the car, and there's like two businessmen. I was more or less sleuthing, and then businessmen told me they had one lane of traffic going on 35W. And then it became real.
At that point I tried to go under the bridge. I saw a couple people diving between the crushed train cars trying to get into there. My girlfriend was scared to death. She didn't know if we should be under there. The bridge could have collapsed on us very easily.
A heroic effort -- it would be nice to say I did. But we needed to get out of there.
LEMON: Will Farley, we're glad you're OK. FARLEY: Thank you.
LEMON: We thank you for joining us today, and we hope your girlfriend is OK.
You didn't know anybody involved in it, did you?
FARLEY: At this point we don't know of anybody involved, so we're happy.
LEMON: And our heart goes out --
FARLEY: My heart goes out to everybody that's involved in the accident.
LEMON: Thank you. Thank you so much.
There are so many eyewitness reports and each one just as unique, just as heartbreaking, as touching as the next one. I can't imagine witnessing something like that. It's kind of my job to do that, and to talk about it. And I don't know how these guys come on. The courage they have to come on, especially the family members involved. And to speak to succinctly and articulately about what they're dealing with, and the tragedy that's facing them.
And this is only the beginning, Kyra. Only the beginning, because for those who are awaiting loved ones, we know not all of them are going to be found, sadly. They're going to get a bit of sad news on top of all of this. Hopefully there be some good news about folks who are finding their loved ones, as well. Back to you.
PHILLIPS: And, Don, last night we watched as all those victims were loaded onto the stretchers. Today, where are the injured and how are they doing now? We will have the answers with our Elizabeth Cohen. She's actually been talking to doctors on the scene. Stay with us in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: I bet you it's going to be a hotly contested news conference. We're waiting for the Minnesota Department of Transportation to hold a news conference. Why? Because it's the Minnesota Department of Transportation that owns that bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis.
A lot of questions to why reports had come forward talking about structurally deficient parts of that bridge, were not paid attention to. There were concerns about fatigue cracking, and even the governor came forward and said the engineers did not determine that dramatic action needed to be taken.
Now, we're seeing scenes like this now. Pictures via our affiliate KARE Television. Waiting for that news conference with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to try and get some answers to why this happened. Well, concrete crumbling beneath them, cars rolling into the river, dozens of people were treated at the hospitals following last night's bridge collapse. CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here now with the update on the injured, and the types of injuries that were sustained.
You actually had a chance to talk to a doctor there on the ground, right?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I talked to Dr. Hick, Dr. John Hick with the Hennepin County Medical Center. He's one of the first doctors on the scene. He got the call when he was at home. He's an emergency medical physician.
He was at the bridge about 10 minutes after it collapsed. He was one of two physicians who were there. He said that he remembers going down to the south side of the bridge and looking into the water and seeing an expansive deck. And people laying on the deck, just completely dazed and he couldn't get to them.
And the frustration that they were in the middle of water, there was a wall between, a wire fence between him and the water. And he couldn't get to them.
He then went to the north side and worked with the other first responders in moving people out. He said, the ambulances had trouble getting down to those riverbanks, and that sometimes what they had to do was that pickup trucks carried the injured along with the medics who would go on the pickup trucks with the wounded.
He said that in under two hours they managed to get 55 people into ambulance. Which is really -- he said it was just phenomenal. And one of the ways that that happened was that civilian physicians, doctors who are not first responders, doctors who just work in offices, or wherever ran down there and helped out. And they just said, we're here, what can we do?
PHILLIPS: We're still amazed by this woman. We keep seeing videotape of her, not a even mask or snorkel, anything, any kind of equipment, just going from car to car, looking in there, trying to see if she can find anybody, make any kind of rescue or recovery, just a rope around her waist.
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