A shake, then 'there was nothing there': Nearby worker details Baltimore bridge collapse

Jayme Krause, 32, had seen the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore her "whole life," but never like she did Tuesday morning.

The bridge collapsed after being struck by a cargo ship loaded with containers, leading to multiple cars and people falling below into the Patapsco River. As of Tuesday afternoon, two people have been rescued but six construction workers fixing potholes on the bridge at the time of the collapse remain missing.

Krause shared her account of the collapse after feeling her 3-foot metal cart full of packages shake.

"I thought I had hit something," Krause, who was working a night shift onshore at an Amazon logistics facility, told Reuters. "I thought I hit maybe a pallet jack piece or some debris on the ground."

Follow here for live updates →Baltimore's Key Bridge collapses after ship strike; construction crew missing

Krause didn't realize the bridge was collapsing until a co-worker told her to look.

"I went over there, and sure as anything, it was gone," she said. "The whole bridge was just like, there was nothing there. It's shocking to see... you've seen this thing your entire life and then one day you go outside and it's not there."

Baltimore is 'losing a very main port,' Jayme Krause says

Krause told Reuters the infrastructure in Baltimore is "already bad enough," but now the city is "losing a very main port for our transportation, distribution (and) all of it."

"I'm worried about how people are going to be getting food and water because trucks for transport, or like cargo delivery trucks," she said.

Ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore has been suspended until further notice. According to port data, the Port of Baltimore is the busiest in the U.S. for car shipments, handling more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022.

The bridge was listed in overall fair condition in 2021, when the most recent inspection report in the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory was released.

However, the database noted that, “Bank protection is in need of minor repairs. River control devices and embankment protection have a little minor damage. Banks and/or channel have minor amounts of drift.” 

Other structural elements showed “some minor deterioration” but were otherwise listed in satisfactory condition.

Contributing: Cecilia Garzella and Yoonserk Pyun, USA TODAY

Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com