Press report.
I'm watching the coverage on Fox News. Two things I noticed about it:
1. At one point, about 10 minutes ago, the on-air journalists were expressing too much excitement, to the point where we were commenting: "They're really getting off on this." Shortly after that, they toned it down. I assume someone told them to make it more solemn and respectful.
2. For about the first 20 minutes that I was watching, there was not a word about the cause of the collapse. I was surprised they weren't even saying that they didn't know the cause, and there was no speculation about whether it could have been terrorism or even any statement to the effect that there is no evidence that there was terrorism. Eventually, they said that they had heard from the Department of Homeland Security that there was no sign that this was terrorism. This made me think that there must be a news policy not to talk about terrorism except as fed information from the Department of Homeland Security.
August 1, 2007
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This made me think that there must be a news policy not to talk about terrorism except as fed information from the Department of Homeland Security.
This seems eminently responsible. Broadcast media overreacts with breaking news as it is, allowing speculation about terrorism when there's no sign of it would be even worse.
DU
So, within 20 minutes, you feel authorities and the press should know whether it was terrorism or not?
And you say you're a lawyer??
My wife drove over that bridge about 10 minutes before the collapse. Took too long to contact her -- she had her phone turned off. Breathed a lot better after she called home.
Shortly after we turned on the news (6:50 CDT, I think), I heard local news reporters/anchors say that there was no reason to suspect anything other than a structural accident.
The locals are striking the right tone. I don't have cable so I can't report on how they are handling it.
On the other hand, is there anything about it whatsoever that indicates it could have been terrorism?
Explosions?
Is it a particularly significant bridge?
Structures do sometimes collapse.
There's a report that the bridge was flagged by an inspector back in '06. Will let you know more when I get a source to cite.
My guess, if it's Homeland Security out of Washington, they don't really know enough to rule anything out. But I think reporters are being overly cautious about using the word terrorism.
FWIW, I'm not watching coverage anymore. I decided to turn off the TV so that my daughter and her friend could play without more of those images filling their heads.
According to KSTP, there is a 2006 Mn/DOT report indicating weakness at the joints of the steel that held the concrete deck above the River.
I heard about this report on the air. Have not seen it on the KSTP website yet.
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S156329.shtml?cat=1
This just in: BRIDGE COLLAPSE DIRECTLY RELATED TO HILLARY'S TITS!!!
There are eyewitness reports of explosions, but not uniformly. Some witnesses spoke of hearing a crack.
Here's an eyewitness account:
Janet Stately, of Minneapolis, was driving southbound on Interstate 35W from Duluth with her daughter, Brianne. Stately said she exited onto University Avenue just minutes before reaching the bridge. On the overpass, she heard the cracking of the structure and smoke rising from below.
"I was driving the car and I screamed when I heard it crack," Stately said. "It's like it went in slow motion. I heard the crack and I saw the cars going straight in. There was not a space between the cars on that bridge. I tried to tell people on the road if you can swim get down there and help."
Lucky, bugger off.
Peter,
I'm so glad your wife is safe.
Thanks Amba.
Total speculation, but I want to know more about a freight train that was traveling under the span approach on the east side. If that derailed and took out supports under the approach, that might have set off a chain reaction that led to the collapse.
For about the first 20 minutes that I was watching, there was not a word about the cause of the collapse. I was surprised they weren't even saying that they didn't know the cause, and there was no speculation about whether it could have been terrorism or even any statement to the effect that there is no evidence that there was terrorism.
You are a fucking idiot! How on earth, in the first twenty minutes, is anyone supposed to know the cause, unless it is something painfully obvious like a plane crashing into it.
James Lileks is blogging about it over at his Star Tribune blog, BuzzMN.
Here's the video that references the 2006 report:
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S156551.shtml?cat=1
Maybe it was just FOX. The CNN broadcasters were duly subdued.
The toughest news broadcast I watched last week was the local news the day two news helicopters were in a midair collision over Phoenix. The broadcasters on channel three were literally in tears as they were reporting it (Channel 3 is a small, independent station in competition with the 'big guys,' and obviously they have a family atmosphere.) On Channel 15 (where the other helicopter was from) they were emotional but not to the same level (they are also much larger, being the Phoenix ABC affiliate, so maybe the people broadcasting the news didn't know the helicopter crew as well).
Is it a particularly significant bridge?
I-35, what do you think, moron? Any bridge across the Mississippi is significant.
Sometimes I can't believe what incredibly ignorant assholes post on this site.
They're not concerned about being responsible. They're concerned that you not tune away. In the meantime, various narratives are tried out.
Unlike an air disaster, there's no really good template like sending reporters to interview loved ones at airports, or report that loved ones are being protected from reporters by airport authorities.
You have to make do with what you can get.
The question is how long you can keep people tuned in.
It's entertainment from start to finish. Entertainment is whatever you can find engrossing, not what makes you happy.
If you refuse to get off on the misfortune of others, you might have long ago thrown away your TV.
News media and Homeland Security Policy, it is to laugh.
Imodium AD. Helps assholes that otherwise can't shut up.
peter, cell phone wouldn't have done any good if it had been turned on. my folks tried calling me and all the circuits were jammed.
Peter,
was it hot today?
the bridge rubble looked like the bridge was a truss bridge with the road bed on top of the truss box?
Jim, my wife did get ahold of me by cell phone.
Drill Sgt: It was hot today, but not blistering. Best photo of the bridge is on wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:I35W_Bridge.jpg
Article is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Bridge
Yes, it was hot today. Not particularly hotter than it has been these last few weeks on average/
DrillSgt, yes, that's the correct description of the bridge. In this photo, you can see the lightness of the steel in contrast to the larger concrete bridge in the foreground. In the background, the massive Stone Arch Bridge.
Freder, Lucky: Recheck your reading! My point is that they weren't speculating and wondering. They were clearly -- it seemed to me -- following a policy not to speculate and mention terrorism. That's my point. Why on earth are you reading me to say anything other than that? I think you are in bad faith. Frankly, you owe me an apology. I should just delete you for your gutter comments.
Who pissed in your Wheaties Freder?
We've been missing you for a while. So glad you're back so that you can call people moron and asshole for no reason whatsoever.
Any bridge over the Mississippi is a big deal *locally* but not a likely target for a terrorist. It's not a *landmark*. This disaster is infinate for those who lost someone they love and horrific for those who have loved ones injured. I have family in the Twin Cities, too. It's not some sort of personal insult to those hurting to say that this bridge wasn't likely to draw attention as a terrorist target.
Get a grip.
I suppose you think being hyper rude gives you some sort of moral superiority?
Amazing how quickly the scum rose...
LGF has a post with a Google Earth shot showing what the bridge looked like before and the section that fell in red. Amazing.
My point is that they weren't speculating and wondering.
Speculating and wondering would be highly irresponsible. So my criticism is completely justified. Delete my comment if you want but I am right, you are just a moron.
Any bridge over the Mississippi is a big deal *locally* but not a likely target for a terrorist. It's not a *landmark*.
You fucking moron! Pull out your goddamned Rand McNally Road Atlas. All the bridges across the Mississippi are a big deal on a national basis. Each and every one of them is an important transportation link. In case you hadn't noticed, the Mississippi is a freaking big river that pretty much splits the country in half. Interstate crossings, especially in major cities, are especially important. If you can't figure that out, you deserve all the derision I heap on you.
Why would the google earth photo with the red highlight be in bad faith?
I ripped the wall map off first so I could see if there was any chance that this was not the most direct route my wife would have taken (Wednesdays she goes from work to a class, so it's not her usual commute). Frustrated that I couldn't get the detail I wanted, I went to google earth. Then to Wikipedia. Good resources for me to get my frame of reference.
For those of you not familiar with the Twin Cities, the Mississippi runs through the eastern part of Minneapolis, then runs between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Insterstate 35W is the major North-South artery through the center of the Cities.
Glad all is well with yours, peter.
Yes, sometimes even good structures fall down. Gravity always wins, it's only a matter of time and elements. We studied these types of events my first year at MSOE.
My prayers to those who need them.
freder, give your faux outrage a rest for the night, huh?
My sister-in-law and my niece were there just a few hours before, and my nephew's home overlooks the bridge. I haven't heard from some of my family yet (six sibs live or work in the downtown area), so I hope they are all okay. I'll bet a few are at the Twins game. But cell phones are only intermittently successful still.
I was glad the news decided to just shut up and report tonight, and not draw any broad conclusions. I was heartened to see video locally of average joes and janes helping helping helping. Carrying the wounded, moving debris, and directing traffic. Sometimes, when things go very very wrong, people become what they always wanted to be.
And sometimes they stay very freder.
All the bridges across the Mississippi are a big deal on a national basis.
If terrorists wanted to cripple the US economy, all they'd have to do is take out the RR bridge that crosses the Mississippi at Memphis. One highway bridge removed won't have the same national effect, but I sure wouldn't want to be driving during rush hour in the Twin Cities any time soon.
Peter, I'm glad your wife is okay.
For those looking for any sliver of good news in all this, a school bus full of kids -- 60 by one account -- crossed over the main span just before the collapse. The part of the deck it was on collapsed, but the bus didn't turn over, and all kids evacuated the bus and are safe.
On many of the TV shots, you can spot the bus next to a burning tractor trailer.
Get over it Freder.
I've lived there.
Lots of cities have bridges. Even Albuquerque has only one primary way to get over the Rio Grande and only one route through the canyon to get out of town the other direction.
Terrorists want to target symbols so they get more bang for their buck. You want to call me names, explain how this bridge is so obviously a terrorist target.
If terrorists wanted to do something big in Minneapolis/St.Paul they'd hit the Mall of America.
Moron.
This is such a great blog! Thank you, Ann Althouse.
And I'm very *very* glad that the school bus full of kids was okay. I saw that in the article when I read it. (At least that the bus was at the side of it and not in the water.)
Funny how brave and bold people like Freder feel free to say things online that would get their pansy asses kicked if said face to face in real life.
No need to delete your comments. You convict yourself of worthlessness out of your own frothing mouth.
Eyewitness account here
Pretty amazing that there were so few deaths. Did the bridge collapse slowly?
That's six *confirmed* deaths, "so far."
Darkness fell with people still to be rescued.
Man, Peter! Hope your wife isn't too shaken up. Reports around 9:30 talked of 30-40 cars plunging into the Mississippi, I'm wishing that is incorrect.
I guess this will be a huge problem getting around in Minneapolis until things settle down. And maybe a long, long time before that major bridge is rebuilt, if the problem started in the foundations.. It is very unusual for a bridge to just suddenly collapse like that. I am very interested in the failure point and how it failed, given a recent inspection..Most major bridge collapses have an external factor - collision, high winds, earthquake - the only one I remember that suddenly failed was the I-95 Mianus bridge in Connecticut, and that was only one concrete slab, on the Southbound side, and that bridge was fixed very quickly.
There doesn't seem anything fixable on the I-35 bridge except maybe some of the foundation Islands. The rest is rubble.
I agree with Ann Althouse and wonder if she is talking about Shepard Smith on Fox , who was acting like the same hysterical, excitable bitch he was when he was in a manic lather in Katrina about "poor people just dropped on this highway span by rescuers and left there with no ice, food or diapers!"
The Coasties were using helos to yank all the bozos who never tried evacuating out of the water and off roofs and practicing triage. Ones in bad shape got helo'd to medical facilities 10 miles away, those in good shape were just ferried to the nearest safe place for later pickup.
Great lifesaving prioritization by the Coasties that the bitch Shepard never understood.
During the bridge collapse, Shepard Smith was like an excited gawker....almost a "isn't this cool, or what!!"
No, it wasn't. A major bridge apparantly collapsing completely out of the blue like that is honestly embarassing for America's reputation as superb engineers. Not as embarassing to America as Katrina underclass victims and various cops, and leaders acting worse than 3rd Worlders in Mumbai and Mexico City and the Bogota mudslides did in their disasters. Or not anything like the classy good behavior of Tsunami victims in 5 most affected countries and the tourists caught up in it....no whining, no looting, helping one another.
Last week, I was teaching a group of 9-12 year olds about structural engineering. Among other things, we talked about the Tay Bridge disaster, and the Firth of Forth Bridge that was subsequently built. That is one Big Mother of a bridge.
Here's a photo showing the north bridge supports. They look so small.
I know the death toll is only at 6 right now. Much as I may hope that that's it, there's no way that they've recovered all the bodies from the water.
This is very close to the law school, which is in Mondale Hall.
During the bridge collapse, Shepard Smith was like an excited gawker....almost a "isn't this cool, or what!!"
No, it wasn't. A major bridge apparantly collapsing completely out of the blue like that is honestly embarassing for America's reputation as superb engineers.
And, inadvertently omitted by me, it was a highly dramatic scene that called for some respect and simple straight reporting. Respect for the casualties, people worried about friends and family that there was a chance they were on the bridge when it went down, and for the some of the heroic bystanders diving in to pull people out and the paid government employees working the rescue. And straight reporting to just give the details without speculation and convey emergency response info and requests and get eyewitness reports.
And indeed there will be time
For the bellows of recrimination,
For blame assigned and accusations thrown;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare excuse upon excuses;
But here it is time to search and to save,
And time for all the work and aid of hands
That lift and carry and sew and grasp;
Not time for you or me,
Not time for a hundred indecisions,
Not for a hundred revisions or politicians,
But only time for finding and breathing, for bandaging and taking home.
NYT: Bridge collapses; women, minorities hardest hit.
Anit-Althousianers: Bridge collapses; whatever Althouse says about it must be criticized.
As I've said before, one of the things I have learned from my daily visits here is about the difference between reasonable, sensible Democrats and crackpot, hate-filled, childish far-left loons.
What we as conservatives need to find out is what has transpired recently in the Twin Cities to cause this.
Was their some gay parade or abortion clinic that recently opened and as a result this is God's punishment.
You expect this kind of calamity in San Francisco and NYC and any large cities on the coast, as well as New Orleans, but this not something we expect in the heartland.
The libertards comments on this post are absolutely repulsive and you all owe Althouse an apology. If you don't like a conservative point of view go to some other unpatriotic liberal site where you can talk about this tragedy.
Pogo: Have you heard from all your sibs yet?
Tammy -- That was a poor effort.
Holy Moley, what is THAT?
Who the heck would sign up for a blogger commenting account just to be that nasty?
***
By the way, I thought it was clear as day that Althouse was commenting on the *lack* of immediate speculation as has become the unfortunate norm (especially with too-excited on-air personalities), not suggesting there SHOULD be such speculating. Sheesh.
reader_iam:
Thankfully yes.
My brother's wife found out that her sister's 25 year old son was on the bridge when it began to collapse, and he drove quickly off it as it gave way beneath him. He's okay but "freaked out"; not sure what else one could be, given the event.
The scene in Minnesota is uncomfortably too easy to picture. Yesterday, on the way to the Quad Cities (IA/IL) airport, we were eastbound on I-74. The westbound lanes were backed up for miles due to construction on that side of the I-74 bridge over the Mississippi, and the bridge itself, of course, was packed and bumper to bumper--and this during lunch hour. I can only imagine the scene during a rush hour in a busier area.
My heart goes out to everyone involved.
***
Good. I'm glad both Peter's and Pogo's family members are OK.
Pogo, glad to hear that he's safe. And hoping that he finds his way through the "freaked out" state in a healthy way.
Thanks, peter, for reporting back on the school bus. It saved me from having to wade through the grisly coverage.
Glad you and yours are well.
best wishes to peter and pogo and their families
"Was their some gay parade or abortion clinic that recently opened and as a result this is God's punishment."
Oh great. We have a fucktard on the right to balance the fucktards downtownlad and luckyoldson on the left. Just what we need.
Enigmaticore: I think that was pretty obviously a lefty posing as a righty for humorous (or critical) effect. It was, as noted above, poorly done.
NONE of the other networks failed to mention terrorism or to ask the question or to bring it up. NONE. i went through all the major outlets in NYC at the time. FOX 5, the fox network news did not mention during their recap summary. ABC and NBC both stated that local officals didn't think terrorism played any part. CBS was still asking the question. CW was carrying local MSP feeds.
I watched replays of Faux Noise cable at 11 and see your point Ann. The speculation is fairly easily explained - as terrorism would be very very bad government news.
Shouldn't post before my coffee then.
OK, great. Another fucktard from the left to balance the other fucktards from the left. Just what we need.
hdhouse: I don't think we've seen a pattern of those who support the administration being less likely to perceive terrorism and those who don't support the administration jumping to call something terrorism.
Ann Althouse said...
hdhouse: I don't think we've seen a pattern of those who support the administration being less likely to perceive terrorism and those who don't support the administration jumping to call something terrorism.
I think we've seen the opposite. The administration and its supporters are quick to suspect terrorism and their critics are quick to dismiss them as scaremongers.
Going back to Ann's second point: It seems that TV reporters are averse to speculating about terrorism.
Once they get a "hard fact," they'll talk about it, even if the "hard fact" is that the Office of Homeland Security simply states that there's no indication of terrorism at this time. Homeland Security must have a person whose job it is to issue such bulletins.
Let's keep this in mind when we watch other disasters unfold to see if reporters repeat the pattern.
More media issues: an eyewitness told the NYT that she exited 35W just before the bridge to take an alternate route because of congenstion. She told a local news station that she exited because she really needed to pee and was headed for a nearby gas station.
Just heard some rumors that, if true, will cause some heads to roll.
Structural/Age Problem = Bridge Collapse.
We have thousands of bridges...just like this one...spread out across America.
What' really amazing is that very few people were killed...with 4 being the latest tally.
You expect this kind of calamity in San Francisco and NYC and any large cities on the coast, as well as New Orleans, but this not something we expect in the heartland.
I realize you're just some leftist trying to imitate a conservative, but you're doing such an incompetent job of it that I feel obligated, out of simple human decency, to help you improve.
So, two points to help you out:
(1): Minnesota is a blue state, with the Democratic Farmer Labor party having a nearly veto-proof majority in both houses. It was famously the only state in America to vote for Walter Mondale in 1984. Confusing it with the red-state heartland is the kind of blunder only a coastal leftie who lumps all the flyover states together would make.
(2): Conservatives, moderates, and libertarians do not consider Ann (a moderate), to be a conservative. If you want to pretend to be extremely right-wing, call her "a liberal".
Ann Althouse said...
Freder, Lucky: Recheck your reading! My point is that they weren't speculating and wondering. They were clearly -- it seemed to me -- following a policy not to speculate and mention terrorism.
perhaps they were following a policy of not mindlessly speculating like little children
Where can one get a list of names of the casualties?
Tammy - are you related to Fred Phelps? Maybe you are a member of the Westboro Baptist Church? Here, then, is a good target for people on the left.
To Tammy: I realize you're just some leftist trying to imitate a conservative -
Thats twice now that one of our resident lefty trolls has tried to pose as a conservative. And I think its telling: the Left has said some incredibly vile things here, so much so that they feel a need to impersonate conservatives to create a false equivalence.
The worst thing is that I know someone named Tammy who *might* think such a thing and who lives in the Cities (some people really do view events as punishment from God for some sin.) I would just hope she'd know to keep it to herself or those she knew were likely to agree, or at the very least would have enough sensibility to wait until the divers are done looking for people.
(I don't think that God works this way at all, but when Mt. Pinatubo blew in the Philippines the Negritos speculated that it was because they'd been sacrificing chickens instead of pigs and the Evangelical Christians claimed it was because Aquino had dedicated the country to the Virgin Mary. (The people's communist army sorts said it was because the US had set off a nuke.))
My story isn't quite as good (I didn't want to use that word, but couldn't think of an alternative at the moment), but since I will be going to law school at the U of M in Sept, I was there this weekend and went over that one numerous times. My sister-in-law went over it the day before and said that the jackhammering made the entire bridge shake.
stoqboy,
Sorry but I guess you don't know that Fred Phelps is a democrat, not a conservative or a republican. They will not attack one of their own so long as he does not run for president.
Two things: I have no idea whether Phelps is conservative, Democrat or Republican, I am only equating Tammy's (apparent) hatred and intolerance with Phelps(left leaning people would presumably target the intolerance). Second, after looking around a little, I believe Tammy to be a poseur.
Peter, Pogo, I'm glad your families are safe
A 40 year old bridge isn't old. My money is on some sort of unusual harmonics yesterday, or this summer, that strained the vulnerable points at each end of that span. Vibration analysis is more of an art than a science, so we may never know for sure.
Yep. With some experience trying to guess the condition of a mechanical device with imperfect data, I have a lot of sympathy for bridge inspectors and mechanical engineers. I wouldn't want that job.
Pogo, and Peter: what a relief. Glad you and yours are safe.
I have a bias against engineers since the levee failures here in New Orleans, so I'll try not to jump to conclusions. But I've seen at least one story today that indicates there have been concerns about the bridge since inspections done in 2001. I won't be shocked if that turns out to be true.
Let me rephrase: my bias is not against engineers per se, but the cultural in engineering that values deference to professional courtesy, to hierarchy and process. There should be many more levels of oversight, and redundancy, and ego should not be a factor. Again, this may not be an engineering error, unlike the levee failures.
The difficulty in this kind of analysis is knowing what's significant and what's not. I doubt there's a single pristine, perfect bridge anywhere on the planet. It's a matter of degree, and people have to make judgement calls. It's the nature of human endevours.
Of course, I'm speaking in general. I have no knowledge of this particular bridge. But, given the stakes involved, it's a job I'd never want.
I have a bias against engineers since the levee failures here in New Orleans, so I'll try not to jump to conclusions. But I've seen at least one story today that indicates there have been concerns about the bridge since inspections done in 2001.
The inspections are done by civil engineers too, you realize?
The decision on whether or not to perform recommended repairs, however, is almost never made by an engineer. Those decisions are ultimately made by politicians and bureaucrats; this was the case in New Orleans, for example.
I cannot imagine how frightening that must have been, especially for the children on the schoolbus, all of whom climbed out the rear exit. I think I would need a session or two of therapy after this, or at least to talk it out...and lots of rides over safe bridges. Bless everyone's heart that saw/experienced it. I think they've determined now that it most probably had to do with erosion and water levels, right? Regardless, our manmade structures are not invincible, and it's easy to forget that.
Well, this doesn't sound good:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291933,00.html
Well, this doesn't sound good
I wouldn't read too much into the "structurally deficient" rating. As the article notes, 77,000 bridges nationwide are in that category. When you consider how seldom we see bridges collapse, the odds of a "structurally deficient" bridge collapsing must be extremely remote (on the order of a small fraction of one percent per year). Note that none of the inspections seem to have recommended that the bridge be shut down.
Spending hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid a problem that has, say, a 0.001% chance of happening is probably not a smart use of government money, especially when you consider how many other things the government could do with that money.
Personally, the news that there were repair crews working on the bridge immediately made me suspicious. I've seen repair crews break things in the course of "repairs" so many times I've lost count. Of course, it could just be a coincidence.
It is completely unfair to blame Fox News, as it all depends on Which Fox Station one was watching.
Our Local Fox News reported this accurately and in a solem tone.
One of the Reporters has a Brother who lives in Minneapolis, and is recovering from some type of surgery.
On his daily evening walk, this happened in front of his very eyes, and they had him televised into our local station to tell what he has heard and seen.
Tonight when they checked with him, he told that he could not sleep last night, and that his mind just cannot take this in !
A woman who was close by talked with reporters, and cried as she spoke.
She told of the School Bus, and said that she had never seen people move as fastly as they did to get those children off of that Bus.
And - they are Not all fine - some are in critical condition, and several are very badly hurt.
My feelings are that it was nothing but the Grace of God that kept that Bus from going over the edge.
They said that the cars were crushed like tin cans !
No one had enough time to do anything if they were in those cars that went over, and those cars that were crushed.
Fires burn from cars, trucks, etc.
People are so terribly shook up and are suffering from this trauma of even seeing such a thing, much less those involved directly.
Think of all of the people that are Still waiting to hear of Family, Friends, etc.
There is concrete and all types of rubble in that murky water that is hampering the search results. How Horrible for All - and how Horrible to even see and read about !
Reading some of the crap that I have read here sickens me - wake up and see what is in front of you !!
This is a Horrible tragedy, and my prayers for out for = All !
Another thing I've noticed is now every county, city, town and village in America is saying: "What about OUR bridges? How safe are they? Could one of OUR bridges collapse like the one in Minneapolis? Who is inspecting OUR bridges? Maybe we should start planning out driving routes that avoid crossing any bridges from now on!" The United States is a nation of "Chicken Littles"!!...
AUGH!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!! THE SKY IS FALLING!! (Nuff said)
Revenant, you're partially correct. The levees in New Orleans failed not just because of problematic inspections, but also because of poor design decisions made by the Corps of Engineers in some cases, and through political boondoggles in other. Engineers decided what depth to sink the levee walls, and in what kind of soil. They also chose the wall design (an I shape, rather than an inverted T). Politics kept the Corps from installing pumps at the lake outlets of the canals, which are now in place. Those pumps, unfortunately, were defective on delivery (by a company connected to the Bush family, with a record of selling defective equipment). They've been retooled, but again, there are design problems with their oil and cooling systems. I'd say when things like levee failures or bridge failures happen, there's a matrix of snafus involved.
I was watching the local news reports in my local area and the local news reporters were all reporting locally on the structural integrity of the local bridges and interviewing several local city officials, asking them if the bridges in my local area were safe. With grave and serious expressions on their faces, these local news reporters asked: "Could another Minneapolis happen HERE?" Then these local news reporters went around asking various local citizens whether or not they believed our local bridges to be safe, and if they now trusted in the structural soundness of our local bridges enough to continue driving over them without fear or apprehension. These local reporters asked: "Are you worried for your family's safety? Are you certain that the bridges you cross every day will not suddenly collapse without warning? Do you know how often the bridges in this area are inspected and by whom?" All I can say is, when it comes to "over-sensationalizing" the news,the national news has got nothing over the melodramatics of local news reporting!!
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