Tanker Explodes

[yupislyr]

Channel 7 is reporting that the tanker hit the top of the bridge...WTF, why don't trucking companies follow the maps and keep tankers lower than the bridges???

I'm sad about the victims, and have much anger toward the trucking companies... do they value human life over their profits???

And WDIV is reporting the opposite. Eyewitnesses saying that the truck cleared the bridge. Who knows for now...

[Gsgeorge]

It's all speculation till the police reports & eyewitness accounts hit the papers over the next few days. I'd avoid heresay about kittens, overheight trucks, and pedestrians on the freeway until the official story comes out.

Channels 7, 4 & 2 are hilarious in their frantic pursuit of information -- almost all of which seems to be wrong in some way. I'm sitting here staring at an image of just ONE side of the bridge collapsed, and the blathering reporter on the service drive has insisted that "bridge has collapse on both the southbound and northbound lanes." Uhh... Then she brings some guy on that says he saw two tankers being followed by a hesitant passer -- and that he got off the freeway at 12 mile road and saw the smoke. How could he know that those were the same trucks that were in the accident if he didn't see the actual accident and only noticed it three miles up the road???

Edit: just saw that this was also mentioned above. Sorry for the repeat venting.

[Blueidone]

Channel 7 reported just now that the driver of the tanker called his wife from an ambulance. He is ok, but has some broken bones. He told his wife someone t-boned his truck and sent him into the median. Of course, this story is not confirmed...Channel 7 heard it second hand.

[Detroitej72]

And WDIV is reporting the opposite. Eyewitnesses saying that the truck cleared the bridge. Who knows for now...

Sorry, I'm a little shook up, since my fiancée was in the vicinity...guess I need to calm down some, now that I know she's OK...

[FlyingJ]

If you want to be on the local news just call them up and tell them you saw the accident. They'll put you on without a second thought. This is local news at it's worst. Lot of time to fill with no real info.

Fighting urge to scream "Baba Booey!"

[Alley]

I don't know what caused all this, but I do know my phone is ringing NONSTOP with concerned people asking if everything is ok.
We're in the midst of a crazy robbery situation with my neighbor across the street, and though 4 neighbors have called 911 more than once, everyone is being told 'we'll try to send someone out' 'we're busy with the explosion' etc, etc.
This has been an insane day

[Gsgeorge]

Robberies, explosions... another crazy day in Det--- I MEAN, Oakland County.

[Novine]

From some video they were just showing, you can see the tanker on its side across all northbound lanes and fully involved in flames. The cab of the tanker was free of the flames although the rear tires of the cab were on fire so the story that the driver escaped seems plausible.

The fire was under the bridge. I'm assuming that the intense heat caused a structural failure of the steel supports, causing the entire span of Nine Mile across the northbound lanes to collapse. In another view, you could see just the rear end of a Meijer trailer left after the span collapsed. It appears the rest of the cab and trailer were blocked in by the rolled over tanker and were either incinerated by the fire or crushed by the collapsing span, or both. Anything else underneath the span likely suffered the same fate. There also appeared to be cars further down the freeway that were on fire due to burning fuel escaping from the tanker.

[Novine]

Any MDOT cams in that area?

[Baselinepunk]

LOL!

I did my route a little earlier than normal. I missed that shit [[in the middle) by a half an hour.

What a mess.


I drink beer now!

[RO_Resident]

Yeah, there are a bunch of MDOT cameras in the area. However, they cut the feed whenever there is something interesting happening.

http://mdotwas1.mdot.state.mi.us/pub...eraViewer.cfm#

[Patrick]

Didn't they just "redo" that bridge? By redo, I mean, basically a paint job and sme band-aids. So, if the bridge is a loss, I assume it is insured right?

[lilpup]

No way a tanker is high enough to strike a bridge - ignore that version.
Tankers can easily carry 9,000 gallons of gasoline. If I recall correctly most have a capacity of 14,000 - 15,000 gallons. The fact that he was only partially loaded actually make the tanker more explosive.

[rjk]

Why would WXYZ keep this news video link up on their site?
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story...wo2l2ybSA.cspx

How absolutely embarrassing. Thinking that a tanker truck wouldn't be able to clear a bridge? Then she interviews some guy and acts like he's an expert on everything.
Yikes, not a good night for channel 7.

[MrCrush1914]

I caught these while coming home from the mall. It was a nightmare out there... We were on SB I-75 and we ALL had to turn around in those same lanes and go NB and get off on the oncoming 696 ramp.

[mjs]

Then she interviews some guy and acts like he's an expert on everything.
Yikes, not a good night for channel 7.

Are you talking about the guy picking up his mother when it happened? If its the guy I think you're talking about, he then walked down the street to Channel 4 and talked to them like he was some expert with all the facts. I have to give the guy some credit for pulling it off with such an aura of authority.

[reddog289]

Not a good day in Hazel Park. While driving and listning to WWJ, I too heard the "kitten" story and thought WTF, That was until the caller gave the punchline.
The story should be straighter in the morning.

[gopher]

I saw what hes talking about and must agree..
The reporter looked like she never been on live TV before, she had trouble staying calm, fumbled her sentences, and in general did not do a good job at reporting.
She was trying to get some airtime with the cop but he 2 busy doing his JOB, trying to keep the stupid people safe.
The MSP officer clearly was telling her and the stupid fucking people to back away and everyone simply ignored him... Fuck them

[Meddle]

ABC picked up 7's feed, so I was able to catch a few minutes. Not one of Cheryl Chodun's better efforts.

[lilpup]

She really didn't have much to work with since she couldn't get close enough to see into the ditch and get a shot of the accident scene. All she could do was rely on the goofball gawkers and hope to find a witness.

[313WX]

There were more explosions?

Smoke is visible from the in-laws in Sterling Heights around 16 Mile and Dodge Park.

At it's peak, I saw the smoke here on the far eastside [[7 Mile & Hoover).

It did rain roughly a half hour before the accident occurred, so it's possible the wet pavement may have contributed to the accident.

[Meddle]

Just caught another clip. There is at least one car burned out under the bridge, maybe more.

I wouldn't want to be commuting in from Oakland county this morning.

[Novine]

Morning reports are that everyone escaped, no fatalities. That's a small miracle considering the circumstances.

[Baselinepunk]

What luck that no one was killed.

Chodin was really obnoxious and embarrassing. It's amazing that she is even allowed to field report on anything. No composure at all; got caught up in the hype. The best was when she reported that a firetruck feel into the mess when the overpass collapsed only to turn to her "source" and found a locked lip.

She's a schmuck.

[ImHere]

I was driving north on I-75 [[around 8:30pm) and saw the smoke way back by I-94. I didn't know what was going on.

At 6 mile cars started darting for the off-ramp, by the time I realized I need to get off it was too late and I was stuck in the traffic jam. One of the MDOT service Vans made me [[and anyone else) go up the 7-mile on ramp to get off I-75. At that point I called home to find out what was going on.

My friends then started calling me to find out what was going on, knowing I was driving that way.