The helicopters are hovering overhead. Every few minutes an ambulance rushes by. I live less than a mile from the bridge that collapsed over the Mississippi this evening.

After I finish this post I will walk to the river and talk to people.However, we are also under a severe thunderstorm warning. This morning they were predicting hail and the sky looks ominous.

That was my bridge. When I'm driving from the south, The exit to my house is the first one right after you cross the bridge on the east side of the river. The exit has been closed all summer while they were working on the bridge. There is a joke in Minnesota that we have two seasons here, Winter and road repair.

The last time I crossed the bridge was on Monday as I returned from Blogher. Since my exit was closed, I had to go up the road a mile and then backtrack. It seemed like a big pain. Of course without a bridge that extra excursion now seems like a luxury.

They're saying four people have died so far.

Because of my proximity to that bridge and because it is the route I and my children drive every day --several times a day-- the phone has been ringing. We are lucky.

Nancy White skyped me. I didn't see the message for 30 minutes because I was glued to the television where CNN was talking to one Mark Lacroix, a CNN viewer, who lives in an apartment right by the bridge.

If any of you happened to hear his interview with Wolf Blitzer you would have thought you were listening to a seasoned reporter rather than a viewer who happened to be the first to snap some incredible photographs.

By now the professional journalists are probably on hand. Mark Lacroix did a great job. He was calm, provided details and was able to answer all the questions Wolf tossed him.

For those of you who are not familiar with Minneapolis, you will help us call it 35W ( double u)...that's not 35 west. 35 goes north and south. There is a point south of the city where 35 splits into two branches 35E and 35 W but they both go north and south.

It's a Minnesota thing.

Just saw the first flash of lightening. I guess I won't be going to the river quite yet. More later.

9:19 P.M.
Despite the lightening I ventured toward the river.
I was not alone. On the Fourth of July, during our summer festival ,The Aquatennial ,and on New Year's Eve, people pour down to the river to see the fireworks.

While people streamed to the closest bridge to the collapse, it was quiet. Walking towards the bridge I overheard a woman gasping that she was on 35W just two blocks away when it collapsed.
Thought I would take my camcorder but it was in my daughter's closet. No charge. I took my sony recorder. It malfunctioned. No vlogging or podcasting tonight.

I overheard a woman talking into her cell phone saying she was on 35 W just two blocks away when the bridge collapsed. I chatted with Letty, a woman who always takes 35W home but for some reason took another route today.

As I walked the 1/2 mile to the Stone Arch bridge -- the closest one to the collapse,-- I alked with a neighbor I had never met.Like me, she just wanted to walk by the river. We didn't really think we could see much, and we couldn't. I did see the part of the collapsed bridge but mostly I was thinking of all of us standing on a bridge looking into a space where a bridge no longer exists.

You could overhear people hypothesizing what went wrong. Was it the extreme heat? The road repair? People wondered what that means for all the other bridges that cross the Mississippi. There are a lot of bridges that cross the Mississippi in Minneapolis. Would they close them?

The Twins played as scheduled at the Metrodome. The cars drove over the Hennepin and Central Ave bridges. The mayor has asked us not to use our cell phones so those that really need them can place calls.

It is now 9:33 p.m. It's dark. I was scheduled to have a meeting at 3:30 tomorrow atfternoon at 6th and University...that's just a couple of blocks from the collapse.

The meeting has been rescheduled to a southern suburb. I just have to figure out how to cross the river and get there.