A bridge collapse this evening over the Skagit River in Northwest Washington caused cars and people to plummet into the water below, but the extent of the damage is not yet known.
The Washington State Patrol confirmed that the Interstate 5 bridge collapse, over the Skagit River in Mount Vernon, sent both cars and people into the water below — but it was unclear if anyone was injured in the incident.
Local site KomoNews.com reports:
“Both the northbound and southbound portions of the bridge dropped into the river sometime before 7 p.m., according to Washington State Patrol trooper Mark Francis… Francis said several cars were on the bridge when it collapsed, and some are now in the water.”
Before tonight’s bridge collapse, the Interstate 5 bridge was one of several deemed by the Washington State Department Of Transportation to be a “structurally deficient bridge.”
It is not currently known whether the people trapped in cars after the Washington state bridge collapse have been located and removed from submerged vehicles.
Former Reuters social media manager Matthew Keys tweeted:
Skagit Bridge “functionally obsolete” in 2010, meaning bridge design was outdated but bridge itself was not structurally deficient.
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) May 24, 2013
Shortly after the Mount Vernon bridge collapse, images of the damage began to show up on Twitter:
Another photo of the collapsed bridge in Washington State via @ kxly4news . twitter.com/kxly4news/stat…
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) May 24, 2013
Photo of collapsed bridge. @gina_svh : North end of I-5 bridge over #Skagit River collapsed twitter.com/Gina_SVH/statu… via @ matthewkeyslive #YA
— YourAnonLive (@YourAnonLive) May 24, 2013
#BREAKING ! PHOTO OUT OF Wash! I-5 BRIDGE COLLAPSED WITH PEOPLE IN CARS TRAPPED IN THE WATER. twitpic.com/csqkht via @ 40ozterrorist #YAL
— YourAnonLive (@YourAnonLive) May 24, 2013
No official updates have yet been disclosed about the scope of injury or casualty following the Washington bridge collapse.
