Residents who live near the Francis Scott Key Bridge are recalling the terrifying moment that the bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning.
“I really thought it was an earthquake or something because it shook this house so bad,” Priscilla Thompson, who lives on the water, facing the Key Bridge,toldThe Baltimore Sun. “It shook it — it really rattled it — for four or five seconds. And then, it got real quiet.”
Donald Heinbuch, a retired fire chief for the city of Baltimore, said his home shook during the moment of impact.
“It felt like an earthquake,”he told the Associated Press. “Or like rolling thunder.”
Heinbuch also shared what he saw after rushing to the scene.
“The ship was there, and the bridge was in the water, like it was blown up," he said.
The Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.Harford County Md Fire & EMS PIO Media Page/Facebook
Harford County Md Fire & EMS PIO Media Page/Facebook
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“Then, I’ve seen all this devastation,” John Flansburg told the news station.
Numerous eyewitness accounts on Xincluded footage of the collapse, in which the 1,200-foot-long bridge broke into pieces into the frigid water below after the container shipDalistruck a support pier shortly around 1:30 a.m.
“The bridge is gone,” Gattus said. “Holy hell.”
The tragedy resonates in another way for Jim Fischer, who was among those who helped build what he calls the “solid concrete” Key Bridge in the 1970s.
“I never thought in a million years anything like this could happen,”he toldThe Washington Post. “And what was incredible to me, is how fast it came down. It really is just unbelievable.”
source: people.com
