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CNN Sunday Morning

Barge Hits Bridge in Oklahoma

Aired May 26, 2002 - 10:12   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, we want to continue to tell you about this breaking news story that we're following. It's a barge that has hit a bridge on the Arkansas River.

Here's a map to try to and show you the location here in Oklahoma. It's in Sequoyah County. And we're told that the barge rammed into this bridge on Interstate 40 just over the Arkansas River not long ago. It is near Sallisaw County, as you can see, or sorry, near Sallisaw but in Sequoyah County, as you can see by our map here. There are no immediate reports of injuries. However, we did talk with the mayor of this area, Mayor Jewell Horn, a lot of emotion in her voice. She's not quite sure -- she knows the situation is quite serious, but not sure how many people have been able to be rescued from the water there, if there are any fatalities.

It's an all-out emergency -- state of emergency. They've called in water rescue crews in addition to all types of law enforcement folks are responding. The Sequoyah County Sheriff's Department and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol say that they are in this state of emergency and a part of this bridge did collapse into the river. We are told there are people in that river. And numerous amounts of rescue teams are en route to this scene and have gotten to the scene. We will try and bring you as much information as possible.

I did ask the mayor how old this bridge is. She said it wasn't that old, only about 20 years. And it pretty much what caused the massive damage was this barge that rammed into the bridge right on Interstate 40 over the Arkansas River.

As we get more information, we'll bring it to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're going to tell you about that breaking news story we've been following for about the past 10 minutes, a barge hitting a bridge on the Arkansas River. The information that we have is that a barge rammed into this bridge on Interstate 40, which is over the Arkansas River near Sallisaw. This happened just a couple of hours ago, and it sent several cars, we're told, plunging into the water.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is sending dive teams to the river right now in this eastern part of the state. Right now there's no immediate reports of injuries, but the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Department and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol say they are in a state of emergency right now. Troopers say that a 400-foot section of this bridge collapsed into the river.

On the phone with us again, Mayor Jewell Horn. She's the mayor of Webbers Falls there into the area.

Mayor, thanks again for coming back in with us. I understand there's a second bridge now, possibly, that was hit.

JEWELL HORN, MAYOR OF WEBBERS FALLS: That's correct. The second bridge crosses the Arkansas River here at Webbers Falls. We were directing all of this heavy traffic across this bridge. We have just been notified that it's also been hit. We are in the process of closing it down, trying to get everyone off of that bridge and still in the process of trying to rescue, and also we have a heavy downpour here at the present time.

PHILLIPS: So, it's bad weather conditions.

HORN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: OK, sort of if you could describe to me how these two bridges are -- I'm still a little confused there in the area. Tell me how these -- how it was two bridges that were hit? How -- what does it look like?

HORN: What does it look like?

PHILLIPS: Yes, like how is the first bridge and how is the second bridge, are they at any way connected?

HORN: Well first, the I-40 bridge was hit heavy.

PHILLIPS: OK.

HORN: The other bridge, we just -- we've had information there's a hole in it, the bridge is shaking, and we're trying to get the people off before it collapses on us too.

PHILLIPS: So the second bridge has not collapsed yet.

HORN: No, it hasn't yet, OK?

PHILLIPS: OK, so the barge came through, hit the first bridge...

HORN: Yes.

PHILLIPS: ... and still was moving and then hit the second bridge?

HORN: This happened through the night, yes.

PHILLIPS: OK. What time did this go down, mayor?

HORN: Well I'm not really sure. We -- I was notified this morning about 8:00. And that's all I know at the present time.

PHILLIPS: 8:00 a.m. this morning. Do you know... HORN: And I do...

PHILLIPS: Do you know if it was an accident, mayor?

HORN: Pardon?

PHILLIPS: Do you know if this was...

HORN: Yes, I'm sure it probably was on accident, but we know nothing about that at the present time. We haven't had it -- time to investigate. All we're trying to do is to rescue these people right now and try to prevent other injuries.

PHILLIPS: Do you know if anyone has been rescued yet from that first bridge collapsing?

HORN: Not -- we're -- I'm not sure. I have my City Hall open and we have several emergency vehicles here. And we're doing all we can do right at the present time. And you might call me back in about 30 minutes.

Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Mayor, thank you very much.

She's got to go. Understandably. OK.

Janell (ph), could you tell me again who the -- we have Ched Wetz from Muscogee Medical Center.

Ched, can you hear me OK?

OK, we don't have him on the phone yet, but we're working on that.

So let's go ahead and go to Jacqui Jeras in the weather center.

Jacqui, what can you tell us about the weather conditions there in Oklahoma?

JERAS: They're worsening very quickly, Kyra. As a matter of fact, we're reporting a thunderstorm in progress right over the observation site in Forth Smith. And of course that's just off to the west of there.

So you can see the bright reds where the strong part of the thunderstorm is and they're just on the edge of it. This is pushing to the east, northeast at a pretty good rate, likely producing some very heavy downpours. We could see maybe even an inch of rainfall with this thunderstorm as it pushes off -- on through.

Also a lot of lightning is going to be expected, along with the potential for some hail, as these thunderstorms push through the area. And of course, as thunderstorms move through, you're going to get the winds to kick up as well. And temperatures right now in the area are in the middle 60s. So weather conditions are not very good. This is a pretty good sizable complex of thunderstorms, so it will take some time for them to pass through. I'd say we have at least a good 45 minutes, maybe even an hour before this whole thing is going to start pushing off through the area. You can see the brunt of it, though, is to the south, so that's some good news. But we're on the edge, and of course this thunderstorm line could continue to push on up to the north as it develops and strengthens, pushing off to the north and east.

But, yes, weather conditions are bad. It's not going to be good for the rescue efforts out there right now.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Oh it's not good news.

All right, Jacqui Jeras, we'll continue to check in with you and follow the weather patterns there.

Now we have Ched Wetz on the phone from Muscogee Medical Center.

Actually, Ched, am I saying that right, Muscogee Medical Center?

CHED WETZ, MUSCOGEE MEDICAL CENTER: Yes. Yes.

PHILLIPS: OK. Chad, have -- has anyone been brought in to your medical center yet?

WETZ: At this time we have received three patients.

PHILLIPS: What's the condition of those three patients?

WETZ: Two of them are stable and one of them is critical.

PHILLIPS: OK, what do you know by talking to anyone that they were with or maybe ambulance personnel, were these three patients in the water? Were they rescued from the water?

WETZ: I spoke with one of them and he told me he was driving along and all of -- next thing he remembers, he was in the water. And he doesn't remember how he got out. And he had some facial injuries. But that's all he remembered.

PHILLIPS: So was he unconscious when he came in?

WETZ: I don't know, I don't think he was.

PHILLIPS: OK, did you get a chance to talk to the other stable patient?

WETZ: No.

PHILLIPS: OK, and do you have reports of other patients coming into the center?

WETZ: I understand we have another ambulance coming in right now. From what I understand from the emergency medical services here in Muscogee, they've dispatched all the ambulances to the scene. So depending on the nature of the injuries and the severity of the injuries, they may bring them here or other hospitals in this area, which would be Sallisaw and Fort Smith would be the closest to that scene in all likelihood and in Tulsa.

PHILLIPS: So the ambulance coming in, what type of patients are in that ambulance?

WETZ: We don't know. We just had an in code that they're on their way and I have not heard anything about the number of patients or the severity of their injuries or type of injuries at the time.

PHILLIPS: Now I know there at the hospital you can hear traffic on the radio, of course emergency radios, how big of a situation is this, Ched? Can you get a feel for how many people could possibly be injured here? Is this pretty much a huge disaster or no?

WETZ: We don't know yet. All we know is that they've dispatched all the EMS units from Muscogee to the scene in order to accommodate for a number of injuries. And we don't know yet until they get in and stabilize that area as to what we may receive here.

PHILLIPS: Tell me about this bridge. The mayor told me it's about 20 years old. It's not that old, but is this a main way for folks to go back and forth to work, to get home? Kind of give me an idea of how much this bridge is used.

WETZ: From what I understand, if it's the bridge that I -- that I think that it is, it's closest to a community called Webbers Falls. And that is the McClelland (ph) curve part of the -- of the Arkansas River and it spans a large part of the navigation system there. And from what I understand on different news sources that it's about a 400-foot section. And that's the main part of Interstate 40, which is the east to west highway, major highway in Oklahoma. And it traverses the entire state of Oklahoma. So It would cause a significant problem in moving to and from communities in northeast Oklahoma.

PHILLIPS: This first patient that you talked with who didn't remember much, but the fact that as the bridge was collapsing, he went into the water and the next thing he knew he was in your medical center. Did he describe at all what he was seeing before the bridge collapsed? Do you remember any more details that this patient might have told you?

WETZ: No, when I talked to him, I just asked him what happened. And he said he was driving along, the next thing he knows there was no pavement under him and that he was headed for a concrete pillar of some sort and hit the water. And he said he didn't remember how he got out of the -- got out of the car, or what. And that the next thing he knew, he was here.

PHILLIPS: That bridge, do you know how far of a drop that would be?

WETZ: It -- well it spans the Arkansas River and that navigation system is quite wide. I would say that it would be at least 100 feet.

PHILLIPS: OK.

WETZ: But I could be wrong, depending on where -- it's kind of -- it kind of arches over that part of the river. And some places it's higher off the water, and other places it's closer to the water. So depending on what part the barge hit and what part collapsed would be contingent on how far it is off the water. So it could be -- it could be 100 feet, but I'm not sure of that.

PHILLIPS: And you...

WETZ: Been over it many times myself.

PHILLIPS: You have been over it many times yourself?

WETZ: Yes. Yes.

PHILLIPS: How long did you say the drive is across that bridge?

WETZ: It's probably -- the bridge itself, I would think would be about maybe a quarter of a mile.

PHILLIPS: OK. Now, you mentioned that the patients will be going to a number of medical facilities, depending on the injuries. What type of injuries do you take?

WETZ: Well, we -- we're a general medical facility and we have a level two emergency services, so we can take significant trauma. There's certain things that that we can't do that depending on the criticality and the number of patients that we receive, we may stabilize those patients here and transfer those to Tulsa if we're either by capacity not able to take care of them or by the nature of their injuries which need more significant intervention -- medical intervention than we're able to take care of here.

PHILLIPS: Now, Ched, do you have a phone number, by chance, that I could let viewers know about in case they know that a loved one or a friend crosses this bridge on a regular basis or someone in the area, they could call your medical center to find out if indeed someone they know is in your facility?

WETZ: Yes, we -- the main hospital operator. And I want to -- because the telephones will be very loaded right now for medical purposes, the main hospital number is 682-5501, that's area code 918.

PHILLIPS: OK.

WETZ: And we'll certainly do everything we can to accommodate anybody who has patient information or loved ones to get that information on their -- on their condition here at the medical center.

PHILLIPS: How...

WETZ: But like I said, it may be one of those situations where the phones are ringing, so they may need to bear with us because it'll tie up the PBX lines.

PHILLIPS: Of course, you don't want to tie up the emergency lines.

WETZ: Correct.

PHILLIPS: These three patients, Ched, what are their ages?

WETZ: I've got two that I have ages on. One of them is 62.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: A 62-year-old male?

WETZ: A 62-year-old male, yes. And I don't have any other information -- looks like a 37-year-old. And I don't know whether that's a male or female.

PHILLIPS: OK.

WETZ: And the gentleman that I spoke to looks like he's in probably his 30s or early 40s.

PHILLIPS: OK, this kind of gives folks an idea.

WETZ: Right.

PHILLIPS: All right has that ambulance reached your medical center yet that...

(CROSSTALK)

WETZ: I'm in a -- in a place in the hospital that I can't see the emergency entrance and I don't think that it has. It's about 20 minutes to the site, 20 to 25 minutes to the site to the medical center. It's just east and south of Muscogee where this happened.

PHILLIPS: What kind of barges come through your area there?

WETZ: Oh they're very large. Just large barges carrying all sorts of different materials up and down the Arkansas River. They're large. I don't know how large they are.

PHILLIPS: Well Ched Wetz, you've been a wealth of information. We want to thank you so much. And we'll probably check in with you again, if you don't mind.

Ched Wetz with the Muscogee Medical Center there in the area that we're talking about.

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