By Capt. Robert Corrales
Tulsa District

(Editor's note: This is a day-by-day account of the events following the collapse of the I-40 highway bridge in Oklahoma. The Tulsa District employees mentioned in this article are just a few of those who worked heroically at and behind the scene.)

May 26
Sallisaw, Okla.

It was a typical Sunday morning on a Memorial Day weekend. Anglers along the Arkansas River enjoyed a fishing tournament, while the forecasted rain was just a hint on the horizon. Two empty barges lashed side-by-side guided by the towboat Robert Y. Love were making their way up the Arkansas River.

Then marine radio traffic at Tulsa District's McClellan-Kerr Navigational Office suddenly became frantic. Fishermen upstream of the I-40 Bridge heard a loud bang followed by crashes, and saw a huge puff of smoke and dust. Witnesses could not believe their eyes as the Interstate 40 highway bridge collapsed and cars careened into the water. Fishermen raced their boats to the scene, yelling to people on the banks, "Call 911!"

Lock operator Chris Drew looked at the clock -- 7:48 a.m.

Tulsa District teams assemble At Tulsa District Headquarters, John Roberts, Deputy District Engineer for Project Management, notified the District Engineer, Col. Robert L. Suthard Jr., of the bridge collapse. Ralph Hight, Chief of Operations Division, was dispatched to Webbers Falls, Okla., to assist Dennis Johnson, the project manager of this disaster. Johnson was in his pool when he got the call. Still wet, he grabbed a shirt and raced to the office to notify his crew and get radios. He planned to get a survey boat, work barge, towboat, and rescue workers to the scene.

A section of the collapsed bridge landed on the barge that struck it. (Photo courtesy of the Tulsa District)

Powerplant superintendent Charles Wycoff was just leaving his house to see his mother in Oologah, Okla., when he got Johnson's call. Detouring through Vian, Okla., Charles got on the survey boat at Gore Landing with rangers Dan Baumann and Larry Prestien and headed to the scene. Navigation manager Gregory Barnes began calling dam operators upstream to shut down water flow to the accident site.

The survey boat equipped with multi-beam sonar would be instrumental in locating targets in the water. It gives divers a two-dimensional image to locate items in the water. In the days to follow, they would do an exhaustive search upstream and down for any glimmer of hope. The survey boat would operate from sun-up to sundown, stopping only for fuel and maintenance.

Tenkiller Lake rangers Bill Mobly and Cathy Hendrix were working dayshift with the holiday crowd on Tenkiller. Carlton Bailey, another Tenkiller park ranger, was at home when he heard about the accident. His regular swing shift would not start until the middle of the afternoon, but Bailey did not wait. He reported to the Tenkiller Lake Office and began to prepare the work barge, while Mobly and Hendrix grabbed personal flotation devices, throw rings, and ropes to take to the accident site.

The trio, with the work barge in tow, departed for a ramp at Gore Landing to launch their vessel. Once the barge was launched the team headed to the bridge, as a boater yelled at them "Stay to the right!"

Tulsa District towboat captain Kelly Youngblood; mechanic Kenneth Wright; Joe Johnson, the primary crane operator and his alternate Colin Clark; mobile crane operator Doug Hart; river and harbor maintenance workers Bobby Perryman, David Key, Steve Graham, and Jeff Lacquement showed up, some in their Sunday clothes, coupled the towboat Mister Pat to the crane barge, and sped upriver toward the bridge.

Russell Holeman, Chief of Hydrology and Hydraulics Branch, was already at the district office monitoring the lake pools in Keystone, Oologah, and Fort Gibson lakes. He and fellow engineers of the water control and regulatory sections had the task of juggling the flood pools of Tenkiller, Webbers Falls, Fort Gibson, Grand, Keystone, Eufaula, and Oologah which feed the Arkansas River.

A storm was coming and the Corps had to hold back water from the bridge site. Southwestern Power Administration also reduced their outflow at the Eufaula Dam. At 7 a.m. releases at Webbers Falls just above the accident site were around 58,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), by 5 p.m. it was down to 38,000 cfs, and by midnight it was 21,000 cfs.

9 a.m.
Carnage
As the rangers' work barge rounded the bend about 9 a.m., they were stunned by what they saw. The radio traffic hadn't said that both east- and westbound lanes of the I-40 bridge had collapsed.

It was obvious there would be no more survivors. The murmur of boat engines and human voices just seemed to add to an eerie quiet. There was no smoke, no fire, no sirens. A green sheen of spilled fuel coated the river. Firefighters, rescuers, and divers waded in the water while crowds gathered on the riverbank and abutments.

A mangled vehicle stuck out of the water. A horse trailer lodged between the broken piers. The contents of a tractor-trailer floated in the water. A gray pickup truck with a smashed front end sat in the middle of the eastbound lane; the deck under it had dropped 10 or 15 feet when its support failed.

Ten feet in front of the pick-up, the east- and westbound lanes had folded and snapped, forming a ramp that disappeared into the water. One pier support still stood over the shards of concrete and steel resting on the barges; its partner impaled the hull of the barge closest to the shore. The towboat Robert Y. Love steadied one barge, the other lay pinned by the fallen spans.

11 a.m.
Towboat and barge arrive    
Mister Pat and the barge-mounted crane arrived at the scene. A second Corps boat, a Boston Whaler manned by seasoned rangers Robert Burnett and Larry Fears maintained order in the navigational lane. They kept other boaters away and ferried personnel to the barges, assisting the U.S. Coast Guard and Oklahoma Lake Patrol. The Coast Guard restricted river traffic for three miles up- and downstream of the bridge. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation requested the assistance of the ranger work barge to inspect the remaining bridge structures.

On shore, the crowd numbered about 100. Volunteers, firefighters, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, sheriff's deputies, divers, fishermen-turned-rescuers, and local businesses bringing food and water had gathered.

Crews were anchoring the barges. The Corps survey boat had started to work; the first task was to locate the gas line running along the river bottom before the Mister Pat could be secured.

By nightfall, the Corps' crane had pulled out three victims, one indistinguishable sport utility vehicle or minivan, and a pickup truck with trailer. The marine fleet crew, the survey boat, and crane continued working well into the night. The crew slept on the towboat and barge wherever they could find a place to rest.

A crane from Tulsa Disttrict played an important role in removing debris and wrecked vehicles from the river. (Photo courtesy of Tulsa District)

May 27 Recovery operations continue More personnel joined the district effort. The survey boat continued sighting targets for divers, and the Boston Whaler continued ferrying people, materials, and supplies to the tug and crane barge. By midday, the weather took control. Lightning and rain prevent divers and operators from entering the water. At the direction of the National Transportation Safety Bureau, the Corps' crane was fitted with a clamshell scoop for recovery, eliminating the need for divers in the murky water. By night's end, four more fatalities were recovered. During the official press conference, two more bodies were found. May 28 Fatality toll officially releasedBy 11 a.m. the fatality toll was officially released. Nine victims were recovered - five females, four males, plus eight vehicles. A couple hours later, four more victims (two couples) were found, bringing the total to 13 victims. One vehicle had an empty child car seat, but the child was still missing. Flows downstream were down to 9,000 cfs.

May 29
Members of the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) arrived. The disaster was a baptism by fire for Southwestern Division's new CISM team, which sent peer supporters to help their fellow workers handle the continuous stress of the operation.

11 a.m.
Final victim found
A somber mood came over the entire recovery site, from boat-to-boat, barge-to-barge, and person-to-person. A solemn quiet prevailed. Some looked away, some continued quietly doing their tasks as the boat carried the final victim, the missing occupant of the empty child safety seat, to the recovery site.

   END