Remembering The Schoharie Bridge Collapse In New York

In the aftermath of the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, MD, emergency responders, and other officials race to try to save any potential survivors and get to the bottom of exactly what happened that caused the nearly 1,000-foot-long ship to crash into the bridge.

As it stands, officials in Baltimore have halted all traffic into and out of Baltimore harbor as two people are confirmed dead, and they presume another six people have also perished. Some officials have said the Francis Scott Key Bridge didn't stand a chance of survival after being hit by the 95,000 gross-ton cargo ship slammed into one of the 1.6-mile-long bridge piers.

The tragedy that happened in Baltimore is reminding New Yorkers of the bridge collapse tragedy that occurred in the Empire State just 37 years ago.

The Schoharie Bridge Along The New York State Thruway Collapsed in 1987

Many people in New York know what it's like when tragedy strikes and a bridge comes tumbling down as that exact thing happened on the morning of Sunday, April 5, 1987, in Fort Hunter, New York, when a bridge section of the New York State Thruway collapsed and fell into Schoharie Creek.

The Schoharie Creek Bridge collapsed not because of a ship but because of the spring melt of a large snowpack and the unusually intense rain activity for early spring. Those two factors caused the Mohawk River and Schoharie Creek to swell. According to the Daily Gazette in Schenectady, NY, reports say that the bridge collapse sounded like a bomb had gone off as a section of the 4-lane highway bridge gave way from the water pressure in the creek.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report of the causes of the collapse, the bridge's section was 60 feet long and fell more than 100 feet into the creek.

A later investigation by the USGS determined that the rainfall and snowmelt in the area resulted in a 50-year flood. The collapse was nearly inevitable due to its condition at the time. The creek, typically only 6 feet deep, was more than 25 feet deep at the time of the collapse.

During the collapse, there was a car and a tractor-trailer truck on the bridge that fell into the water immediately, and then three more cars drove off of the bridge into the creek. Ten people died in total, and nine were recovered in the wreckage, with the tenth person's body being found upstream in the Mohawk River more than 2 years later.