Day: December 15, 2020đŸ’¾

The deadliest bridge disaster in US history was caused by a tiny crack just three millimeters deep | by Matt Reimann | Timeline

The deadliest bridge disaster in US history was caused by a tiny crack just three millimeters deep | by Matt Reimann | Timeline

harlene Wood was driving home at 5 p.m. on December 15, 1967, when she felt Silver Bridge shake. The bridge, built in 1928, spanned the Ohio River between Ohio and West Virginia, and served 4,000 vehicles every day. On this cold Friday, a single eyebar — a 55-foot-long section of steel, two inches thick and 12 inches wide — had suddenly fractured. Then the pin holding it in place fell loose, sending the bridge’s components into catastrophic failure. “It was like someone had lined up dominoes,” Wood recalled. “I could see car lights flashing as they were tumbling into the water. The car in front of me went in. Then there was silence.”

50th Anniversary of the Silver Bridge Collapse

This documentary, "Silver Lining: The Catastrophe that Lead to the Creation of the National Bridge Inspection Standards," was created to honor the 46 lives lost and acknowledge the program that has saved thousands of lives across the nation.

Map: Degrasse State Forest

COVID deaths highest in US in rural Republican-leaning Kansas county

COVID deaths highest in US in rural Republican-leaning Kansas county

QUINTER, Kansas — Sitting in the front seat of a red pickup as wind-whipped sorghum husks fly down Main Street like snowflakes, Ivy Charles fingers the white surgical mask slipped down beneath her chin.

"He was a puzzle piece who can never be replaced," she says, tears welling into her tired eyes. "He was supposed to get better. We weren't expecting him to die."

Just over a month ago, the now-rampaging coronavirus pandemic tore through this rural town of 1,000 and surrounding Gove County, killing 20 residents. Among them was Charles' father, Edward "Mac" McElhaney, 78.