Hi John, I am a padre island native, and my godfather was one of the workers on this bridge originally, and later became a worker on a barge out of a nearby city, in Corpus Christi TX. When this incident happened, he told my grandfather that after he gained experience in barge working, he reflected on the building of the bridge and thought should have taken a different structure or should have been built with a different angle, or implement a system to properly gauge the waters and watch the boats. come to find out, he was right.
@@deptusmechanikus7362 Smart Aleck/Ass reply. His Grandfather was probably someone who authorities wouldn’t give the time of day to. He could’ve said it to the point he was warned he could’ve been fired the next time he opened his mouth.
Cool i was born in raised in Brownsville for the first 25yrs of my life and was 11 when this happened. No surprise i thought it was terrorists related when it happened and until now i thought it just collapsed cause it was old wow i can’t believe it took me this long to learn to know that.
Me too!! I was like 7 and wasn't at all scared of long bridges until my dad helpfully said "hey you know it collapsed when you were a baby" and then i was shivering in my little boots.
I lost a dear friend, Stvan, in this accident. He was such a kind young man and it’s a shame his life was taken too soon. Didn’t think I’d be able to watch this one but you are always respectful towards the lives lost so that really helped, I guess time helped too but you know!
@Steve A few decades ago, I had a nightmare of my dad accidentally driving off of the top of a 10-12 level multi storey carpark. I rarely remember dreams, let alone nightmares, but I still remember being in the back of the car, the impact against the concrete, the car tipping over, and seeing the street below. Of course I woke up before impact, but it scared the hell out of me ...
As a native of the RGV, I live about a 20 min drive from Port Isabel. Thank you for covering this. This is fairly unknown because of the attacks. From what I was told, the whole nation threw in resources to fix this accident from emergency ferries, to water transport, etc, It made headline news but rarely covered
As a kid in the 70s I lived just a bit away as well on Boca Chica Blvd and my father was on a Coast Guard cutter out of the Port of Brownsville. I went to elementary school (El Jardin) and we went to SPI many, many times. This tragedy makes me sad as I have nothing but fond memories of my time and friends in Brownsville. I'm sure this really shook the community up and just piled on what we as a nation were trying to come to grips with. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day
Bro You seem chill.. i do food videos while i’m high af on my TH-cam channel. I’m more raw & realer than most on here no cap i don’t fake anything 💯im tryna make it out
Was born and raised in Brownsville for the first 25yrs of my life and was 11 when this happened and yes i thought it was terrorist related. I took a ferry ride there and when we came back we ate at Pirates Landing i sure miss that place if you still live there can you tell me if it’s still there?
@@sinthiamartinez9311 yes a giant pirate boat last time i remember no idea if it was ever used or it was just for show. I moved to San Antonio 6yrs ago and was last in Brownsville about 3yrs ago for a visit when my mom sold her house and moved up here so can’t say it’s there anymore myself. I heard SpaceX bought out my old shooting range down there and won’t be back until next year for my god child’s quincenera
John, thank you for covering this. I lived in the area, what is called the Rio Grande Valley, during the time of this incident. At the time I was a critical care flight paramedic and we responded to this incident. One of the victims who perished in the accident was a close personal friend's relative. I would just like to say that the information regarding the incident is completely spot on correct and factual as always!
The plane story reminds me of something that happened here in middle Tennessee. Back in the 60s or 70s there was a person who jumped off a local bridge in a suicide attempt. The police ended up dragging the river for several days attempting to recover the body. One local pilot, a guy who was a little eccentric, decided to hire a photographer to go to the scene. He told him he was going to fly by, so take a bunch of pictures. The cameraman gets down close to the water with his camera, the police are in their boats dragging the river, and here comes this plane skimming along the water. He barely clears the boats, goes under the bridge, does a move called a wing over to begin his descent, the goes right back under the bridge, over the boats, and he’s gone. There’s tons of copies of the photos around, I’ve seen several myself. Apparently the police didn’t find it very funny, so of course the pilot was arrested. I’m not sure what happened with the search for the body. The incident became one of those local legends that the old timers tell
My family’s from this region (the Rio Grande Valley), and this incident is still talked about to this day. It freaked a lot of locals out because it happened only a few days after 9/11, so people had already been on edge. It was also very tragic because of the loss of life. Thank you for showcasing a piece of our history.
In December 1989 a section of the 520 Bridge in Seattle, WA opened during a test killing one and injuring several others. This was the longest floating bridge at the time (over 1 mile). I was 10 years old at the time and I would be interested in hearing about how the test of the movable section went so wrong.
Holy shit I remember this!! It happened not too long after 9/11 too so everyone was freaked out that it was a terrorist attack. I was one of the thousands of people stuck on south padre island while they did repairs. I remember wanting to take a boat back over to port Isabell but the fishermen and anyone who owned a boat was charging insane prices for a quick boat ride!
Great video John! Suggestion for you: Research and do a video on the Waverly Tennessee propane explosion in February 1978. This was truly an avoidable disaster. A perfect ‘chain’ of events that to this day is used as a training guide on how to NOT handle an obviously dangerous situation. I witnessed the fireball and after effects. I enjoy your videos and know you would give it your special touch.
Lac-Megantic is fine, but it's been done many times already. I'm not sure I've ever heard of the Waverly Tennessee propane explosion. If there's enough background information then John should definitely look into it! Thanks John for all the great content!!
Clicked for the content, Liked for the thorough geography disambiguation. Tastefully done as always. My heart goes out to the deceased and their families.
This has become my go-to channel on Saturday. Always so well done. I had heard of this story while living in Dallas TX but didn't know the important details, such as the captain having had another bridge hit such a short time before. Thanks as always.
I love this channel, and it's questionable animations. The animations aren't questionable in this context, therefore they are perfect. I don't know if that made any sense, but I appreciate your work.
I like how he kept saying "not that one", because sometimes when we are listening to the stuff it goes in on autoplay or we got up to do something quickly during the commercial break and missed a small tidbit of the video but can piece it well together if it hasn't played too far.
Great background. I was kid living in that part of the country when the new bridge opened up. We use to take the old bridge to the beach and watched the new one being built. After the one opened up South Padre Is. grew and grew and grew basically over night. I still remember how it was in the early 70's.
Always cool to see the RGV get some coverage in any media. My parents told me about the bridge collapse but never went into detail. Its awesome to see a video that covers the event.
As a mariner myself in Texas, this is scary but very real. A momentary lapse of judgement can result in terrible consequences. There have been several harbor tubs that have sustained major damage due to changing conditions and one harbor tug that was capsized as it was run over by a ship in the Houston shipping channel. Scary stuff.
I love vids like this. Not only do I learn about a disaster, but; I also learn about the community it happened in, the engineering challenges, the local routing for boats, the challenges of driving a tug boat, and so on!
I have long had an interest in bridge collapses, but this is a new tale to me! Thanks, as always. Id like to second the idea of doing a video about structure failures due to resevoir levels.
If you want something utterly wild and yet wholesome, look up the MV Kahaba that did a full 360 roll under the Rooster Bridge in Alabama in 1978 Quite how an 80 ft tugboat did a full on roll, righted itself, and nobody was even hurt, is an absolutely incredible thing. And yes, a bridge and barges were involved, as well. Makes me wonder if anything similar has happened as far as boats doing acrobatics and everyone surviving unscathed
To be fair, Long Island, New York tells everyone to shut up 🤣 Thanks John, I remember hearing the immediate reporting of the disaster on 9/14/01 as a possible terrorist attack (bc everyone was so paranoid), but as soon as it was deemed otherwise, the news went back to the towers 💔
Suggested you cover this over a year ago after visiting Starbase, TX, staying in SPI and hearing about the collapse….so glad to see you’re finally covering this!
John your videos are the only thing that’s been getting me through this past month in the hospital. I get out next week my friend. Don’t worry, I’m hooked on your content for good now. Thanks for making my stay here tolerable 😁🍻
Thank you for producing this video. I was visiting family in RGV at the time of 9/11 and this bridge collapse. My family had just been to South Padre, enjoying a wonderful day at the beach, on 9/10. It's scary to know that my family had just traveled that bridge days before. We went back for a visit this summer and seeing the new sections of bridge was somber reminder to the lives lost.
This makes me wonder how many major catastrophes mostly get ignored (at a national level) because an even bigger catastrophe happened near the same time. After 9/11, I feel like there could have been a serial killer killing a dozen people a day and it would have barely been reported (unless they could somehow connect it to the attacks)
@@PlainlyDifficult Right after 9/11 we had the anthrax postal attacks, and then the DC sniper attacks. Everyone speculated that they could be linked, but they weren't, nor were they ignored. The sniper attacks in particular scared everyone because they were so random. People were fueling their cars while trying to hide behind their engine blocks or other structures, people were afraid to walk across a parking lot and put groceries in the car trunk at markets, etc. And anyone driving a white van or truck was absolutely going to get pulled over and checked out by a cop, no matter what. In the end it turned out to be two dirtbags in a blue car.
I remember when this happened. On my honeymoon 30 plus years ago we rented a catamaran to sail in the Laguna Madre from South Padre Island . The rental guy took us out to show me the ropes and when I asked about getting too close to the bridge he wanted to show me that the water flow wouldn’t allow us to get too close and he ran us right into the bridge and the mast got tangled up in a bridge beam.
I loved in Portland, TX (just across the bay of Corpus Christi) for a few years around 2009. I wish I learned of this because bridge collapses are fascinating (despite having a great fear of the water below). We lived in Minnesota just towns away from the collapse of I35 and that was both terrifying and amazing when it happened.
The thing that struck me as odd is that the bridge pilings seemed to have sunk about 20 feet after the collision with the barge. It seems to me like there may have been an error in construction if such a thing caused that.
It looks like that section was knocked off its supports by the impact and fell roughly straight down, maybe because for a few seconds it was hanging from the road deck before that collapsed too.
Hey John, love your videos! Not sure if you’ve done it yet, but a video on Melbourne Australia’s West Gate bridge collapse? :) keep up the great work! :)
I live close to the South Padre Island. When you started bridge disaster videos I was hoping you would touch on this incident. Very tragic and preventable.
I'd love if you could do a video about the West Gate Bridge collapse in Melbourne, Australia. It remains to this day Australia's worst industrial disaster by loss of life, 50 years since it occured.
I was listening to this during a run and just knew I'd have to sit down and watch it solely because of the "not that one" repetitions. I was not disappointed. 😂🍍
John, possible suggestion for the future for a related video: the 1993 Big Bayou Canot bridge disaster, the deadliest in Amtrak's history and the worst US rail disaster since the 1958 Newark Bay accident. (And just to help in advance if you do it: it's pronounced "By-oo Cuh-NO." Because Louisiana and southwestern Alabama used to be French.)
happy to see this tragedy covered, I haven't seen it in a lot of places. grew up going to SPI and went there recently, it's all I think about going over the causeway.
Thank you John, for covering that. I actually hadn’t heard of this. It probably wasn’t mentioned much in the news other than maybe more locally. It truly was overshadowed by the events of Sept 11 th. It was no less tragic to the people and community involved. They undoubtedly still feel the pain from the tragedy!
Hey John, would you ever consider covering the Amtrak crash in the bayou of mobile Alabama? I’m a local here and even here it’s relatively unknown, it’s the second deadliest Amtrak crash in history and has an incredible story, the story is fairly similar to this one
I live about 40 minutes away from South Padre Island. I remember my aunt and uncle were vacationing in SPI when the bridge accident happened, they were stunned of course since the events of 9/11 had just occurred. They were stuck in the island for a while and had to be brought back via a boat to the main land. Every time I go to the island, when driving you could hear/feel the difference of the original bridge and the new added part of the bridge and I think of this event.
My girlfriend and myself were crossing the Oregon Inlet bridge that connects mainland North Carolina to Hatteras Island where we lived when a commercial fishing vessel hit the south side supports of the channel with us at the top and it was very unnerving feeling the bridge sway. Now there's a new bridge, after years of court battles with bored rich people that don't even live there that also destroyed the local economy over a bird they fudged the numbers on. There were sections taken out on the north side by a construction barge that broke loose during a blow but as it was on the approach it was easy to see so nobody drove off but it definitely made life miserable for a long time as it took out utilities and again court battles with coastal elites. Politics should have absolutely nothing to do with people's safety yet it keeps happening.
I had just done a search on this accident a couple of weeks ago, and was excited to see this video had been done. I lived in B'ville for a bit, and I remember when this happened. It was so nerve wracking just after 9-11 and because I couldn't reach my boyfriend at the time.
I grew up hearing so many stories from family and family friends that were on SPI that day crossed the bridge. It feels so surreal to think that people just don't talk about it anymore.
Not a bridge collapse, but I would sugest the 1999 Mont Blanc Tunnel fire as a future topic. The fire and its death toll is an example of a series of both engineering and organisational shortcommings working together.
@@PlainlyDifficult Tunnel fires and rail disasters are definitely a fertile ground for videos. Baltimore had a nasty rail tunnel fire a number of years ago.
@@RCAvhstape Ah the UK summit tunnel fire is a fun one though - some of the pictures are spectacular - disclaimer - no-one was hurt or killed in this one...
my grandparents (rip) lived in harlingen and we'd always stay in padre when we went to visit them. i always hated crossing the causeway when i was little cause it would be night by the time we got there and being over the water in near total darkness freaked me out
Holy crap! I never expected to see a local event on this channel! My Aunt and Uncle worked at a hotel on the Island when this happened. I can't be sure, but I think they knew some of the people that fell.
I have done a quick scan of the comments and been surprised not to see South Padre Islands current claim to fame mentioned. It is a good viewing point for launches from Space X's Boca-Chica facility for their Starship Super-Heavy launcher just across the main shipping channel to the south. launches, landings (yes), engine runs and kabooms (Space-X is following a 'fail (and learn) fast' policy on development) can be viewed from there.
Syracuse, NY kid! 👋🏿 "Not that one" ☠️ I've watched mad Plainly Difficult documentaries, that's the funniest thing you've ever said, John. Yes, I replayed those parts mad times.
This was a terrifying event. We were all extremely on edge, in shock, traumatized by the terrorist attacks on September 11. This happened during the night and I was watching TV when the news reports came on. Everyone really thought it was another terrorist attack and we kept waiting for one to follow. Thankfully it was just an accident, but it was still terrible for the residents of South Padre and especially those who were on the bridge when it happened. I’ve been to South Padre many times and have driven across that bridge on each trip, of course. The bridge collapse has made me hesitant to ever drive across any causeway or high bridge after dark. I still think about it any time I head to any of Texas’ barrier islands.
Showing this to a friend who used to work as a tug operator/pilot out of Avonmouth docks near Bristol. Their first words when seeing the Y and S curve were how do you expect big ships to make that turn on their own. ollowed by: Why is that bridge so exposed. It's asking to be hit EDIT: Oh come on. Just because you can fly under a bridge once, doesn't mean you should rev up and give it another go. It isn't like in the movies. Even the best stunt pilots screw up and crash when doing that. Ditto or barns. I mean, the old DOS PC game Stunt Island captured this really well or a 90s DOS game. Fast jet? check. About the same height of bridge? Check. Water? Check. Razor thin margins of error? Check. Now put that in a slow, bigger than an F-16 or fighter jet, plane. And you're asking for trouble.. And the pilot was drunk. I had to pause the video to laugh at the sheer stupidity of that...
A Cessna 182 is tiny. It is slow, true, but it is by no means bigger than any fighter. I've flown it, and am a longtime aviation writer, and just checked its dimensions, so I do know. I've also lived and flown all over Cameron County, Tx., though, um, er, not under the causeway. Nevertheless, making it under that causeway in a light plane isn't that hard provided you're sober and know what you're doing. Should you? Of course not.
@@thomasbell7033 Key words: Provided you are sober. I mean, I don't want to take a 172/182 anywhere it isn't really meant to go. Makes me wonder though if things like drunk idiots going under a bridge is factored in for safety reasons or not however.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 82 วันนี้!! คู่เอก | ยอดไอคิว vs อับดัลลาห์](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hSsyTl_9bqs/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi John, I am a padre island native, and my godfather was one of the workers on this bridge originally, and later became a worker on a barge out of a nearby city, in Corpus Christi TX. When this incident happened, he told my grandfather that after he gained experience in barge working, he reflected on the building of the bridge and thought should have taken a different structure or should have been built with a different angle, or implement a system to properly gauge the waters and watch the boats. come to find out, he was right.
İ used to always think that Long İsland was called Lone Guy Land because of their silly accent and because that is where all of the guays come from.
It was nice of him to warn everyone and prevent this disaster from happening
@@deptusmechanikus7362 Smart Aleck/Ass reply. His Grandfather was probably someone who authorities wouldn’t give the time of day to. He could’ve said it to the point he was warned he could’ve been fired the next time he opened his mouth.
Cool i was born in raised in Brownsville for the first 25yrs of my life and was 11 when this happened. No surprise i thought it was terrorists related when it happened and until now i thought it just collapsed cause it was old wow i can’t believe it took me this long to learn to know that.
Steel bridges here in florida over saltwater scare me so much rust
Naming a ship the "MV Brown Water #5" is tragically unimaginative, no doubt taunting Poseidon and ultimately causing the disaster
Indeed
Honestly, what *doesn't* anger Poseidon? Greek mythology is either Zeus being a manslut or Poseidon throwing temper tantrums.
I think I saw that movie.......
No worse than boaty mcboatface.
@@ananthropomorphictalkinggo6641 Yes it is. At least Boaty McBoatface attracts affection.
I was told this story for the first time while crossing the same bridge at night. The story from the survivors is scary.
Huh what I miss
What a terrible time for someone to tell you that story.
@@cremebrulee4759 yeah it's was 11 at night and foggy while crossing. Talking about the people that suffered and the ghost sightings later.
Me too!! I was like 7 and wasn't at all scared of long bridges until my dad helpfully said "hey you know it collapsed when you were a baby" and then i was shivering in my little boots.
I lost a dear friend, Stvan, in this accident. He was such a kind young man and it’s a shame his life was taken too soon. Didn’t think I’d be able to watch this one but you are always respectful towards the lives lost so that really helped, I guess time helped too but you know!
I'm so sorry about your friend 💜
I offer my condolences... damn 😞
Hugs to you! ❤
Sorry about your friend.
Sadly many times the good really do die young.
I looked up his grave on Find a Grave. Only 22 years old when he passed. Indeed, it was taken too soon.
Thats gotta be one of the most terrifying ways to die in a car. You just driving across a bridge then disappear into the bay.
Even worse at night!
@Steve
A few decades ago, I had a nightmare of my dad accidentally driving off of the top of a 10-12 level multi storey carpark. I rarely remember dreams, let alone nightmares, but I still remember being in the back of the car, the impact against the concrete, the car tipping over, and seeing the street below. Of course I woke up before impact, but it scared the hell out of me ...
There is a fairly simple solution: Only drive so fast that you can still stop by the time you reach whatever you cant see.
i love how every time long island gets brought up it's immediately followed by such a deadpan not that one
:D
It’s not really a Texan town if you don’t immediately follow it up with “Not that one” lol
There's also a Long Island in Australia and because it wasn't ruled out, we can't be sure it's not that one either
As a Long Island, New York native. I did appreciate the clarification that is was not THAT Long Island! Keep up the great work.
I laughed every time John said "Not that one.."
As a Connecticuter, agreed
He picked a weird picture for the first "not that one" though, seemed to be a shot of NYC more than anything else. Suffolk County wasn't even visible
As a native of the RGV, I live about a 20 min drive from Port Isabel. Thank you for covering this. This is fairly unknown because of the attacks. From what I was told, the whole nation threw in resources to fix this accident from emergency ferries, to water transport, etc,
It made headline news but rarely covered
As a kid in the 70s I lived just a bit away as well on Boca Chica Blvd and my father was on a Coast Guard cutter out of the Port of Brownsville. I went to elementary school (El Jardin) and we went to SPI many, many times. This tragedy makes me sad as I have nothing but fond memories of my time and friends in Brownsville. I'm sure this really shook the community up and just piled on what we as a nation were trying to come to grips with. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day
Bro You seem chill.. i do food videos while i’m high af on my TH-cam channel. I’m more raw & realer than most on here no cap i don’t fake anything 💯im tryna make it out
Was born and raised in Brownsville for the first 25yrs of my life and was 11 when this happened and yes i thought it was terrorist related. I took a ferry ride there and when we came back we ate at Pirates Landing i sure miss that place if you still live there can you tell me if it’s still there?
@@lucoakanrogithe2ahashira509 is that the restaurant with the pirate boat outside? As far as I know it's still there.
@@sinthiamartinez9311 yes a giant pirate boat last time i remember no idea if it was ever used or it was just for show. I moved to San Antonio 6yrs ago and was last in Brownsville about 3yrs ago for a visit when my mom sold her house and moved up here so can’t say it’s there anymore myself. I heard SpaceX bought out my old shooting range down there and won’t be back until next year for my god child’s quincenera
John, thank you for covering this. I lived in the area, what is called the Rio Grande Valley, during the time of this incident. At the time I was a critical care flight paramedic and we responded to this incident. One of the victims who perished in the accident was a close personal friend's relative.
I would just like to say that the information regarding the incident is completely spot on correct and factual as always!
The plane story reminds me of something that happened here in middle Tennessee. Back in the 60s or 70s there was a person who jumped off a local bridge in a suicide attempt. The police ended up dragging the river for several days attempting to recover the body. One local pilot, a guy who was a little eccentric, decided to hire a photographer to go to the scene. He told him he was going to fly by, so take a bunch of pictures. The cameraman gets down close to the water with his camera, the police are in their boats dragging the river, and here comes this plane skimming along the water. He barely clears the boats, goes under the bridge, does a move called a wing over to begin his descent, the goes right back under the bridge, over the boats, and he’s gone. There’s tons of copies of the photos around, I’ve seen several myself. Apparently the police didn’t find it very funny, so of course the pilot was arrested. I’m not sure what happened with the search for the body. The incident became one of those local legends that the old timers tell
Not only will doing that get you arrested, but say goodbye to your pilot's license, too.
Its The little bits of comedy in a serious documentary that make your channel the best
Thank you
"Long Island" not that one!" 😂🤣 I loved this repeated bit (as someone from NY who has lived near "that one" my whole life.)
it's a new meme! 🤪
11:53 - when you screw up badly enough that your lawsuit against someone else almost leads to the court to charge you instead
My family’s from this region (the Rio Grande Valley), and this incident is still talked about to this day. It freaked a lot of locals out because it happened only a few days after 9/11, so people had already been on edge. It was also very tragic because of the loss of life. Thank you for showcasing a piece of our history.
In December 1989 a section of the 520 Bridge in Seattle, WA opened during a test killing one and injuring several others. This was the longest floating bridge at the time (over 1 mile). I was 10 years old at the time and I would be interested in hearing about how the test of the movable section went so wrong.
Holy shit I remember this!! It happened not too long after 9/11 too so everyone was freaked out that it was a terrorist attack. I was one of the thousands of people stuck on south padre island while they did repairs. I remember wanting to take a boat back over to port Isabell but the fishermen and anyone who owned a boat was charging insane prices for a quick boat ride!
that's crazy
911 probably why I don't remember hearing about this.
Great video John! Suggestion for you: Research and do a video on the Waverly Tennessee propane explosion in February 1978. This was truly an avoidable disaster. A perfect ‘chain’ of events that to this day is used as a training guide on how to NOT handle an obviously dangerous situation.
I witnessed the fireball and after effects.
I enjoy your videos and know you would give it your special touch.
Thank you!
@@PlainlyDifficult On the topic of rail disasters, Lac-Mégantic
@@v8rumble123 Lac-Megantic might be the king of rail disasters.
Lac-Megantic is fine, but it's been done many times already. I'm not sure I've ever heard of the Waverly Tennessee propane explosion. If there's enough background information then John should definitely look into it! Thanks John for all the great content!!
I appreciate your clarification. I've been to South Padre, but I am FROM Long Island...THAT one...new York.
Very confusing
I think people who are actually from LI are the _last_ ones who would need the clarification lol
I genuinely hoped you'd say "not that one" every single time, and you did NOT disappoint! 😍
I was going to jump through the front window if he said it again. My left eye had already started twitching by that point.
@@d3vastat0r89 🤣
"behind long island"...."not that one". i love the humor you put in it. it makes my Mondays every week
As someone from long island (that one), i can say that the one in the video is not that one.
Thank you for your expert witness statement
I live on Long Island (yes, that one), and I smiled every time you put up those images. (If you zoom in, maybe you'll see me! :) )
I love the recurring "Long Island .. not that one" gag. 😂
Clicked for the content, Liked for the thorough geography disambiguation. Tastefully done as always. My heart goes out to the deceased and their families.
I'd honestly never heard of this disaster, as it was so overshadowed by the start of the modern age of Terror.
Great video as always John!
I've been pondering Hoover and the low water levels. Any historical collapses due to reservoir emptying?
I'm not sure ill have a look thank you!
Nope, definitely drugs...
This has become my go-to channel on Saturday. Always so well done. I had heard of this story while living in Dallas TX but didn't know the important details, such as the captain having had another bridge hit such a short time before. Thanks as always.
Wow, thank you!
same - ww2 coverage and horrible disasters ;)
I love this channel, and it's questionable animations. The animations aren't questionable in this context, therefore they are perfect. I don't know if that made any sense, but I appreciate your work.
Thank you!
I got the questionable comment immediately, lol.
I like how he kept saying "not that one", because sometimes when we are listening to the stuff it goes in on autoplay or we got up to do something quickly during the commercial break and missed a small tidbit of the video but can piece it well together if it hasn't played too far.
Great background. I was kid living in that part of the country when the new bridge opened up. We use to take the old bridge to the beach and watched the new one being built.
After the one opened up South Padre Is. grew and grew and grew basically over night. I still remember how it was in the early 70's.
Always cool to see the RGV get some coverage in any media. My parents told me about the bridge collapse but never went into detail. Its awesome to see a video that covers the event.
As a mariner myself in Texas, this is scary but very real. A momentary lapse of judgement can result in terrible consequences. There have been several harbor tubs that have sustained major damage due to changing conditions and one harbor tug that was capsized as it was run over by a ship in the Houston shipping channel. Scary stuff.
"Not that one" best running bit in a video so far lol
I love vids like this. Not only do I learn about a disaster, but; I also learn about the community it happened in, the engineering challenges, the local routing for boats, the challenges of driving a tug boat, and so on!
I have long had an interest in bridge collapses, but this is a new tale to me! Thanks, as always. Id like to second the idea of doing a video about structure failures due to resevoir levels.
If you want something utterly wild and yet wholesome, look up the MV Kahaba that did a full 360 roll under the Rooster Bridge in Alabama in 1978
Quite how an 80 ft tugboat did a full on roll, righted itself, and nobody was even hurt, is an absolutely incredible thing.
And yes, a bridge and barges were involved, as well. Makes me wonder if anything similar has happened as far as boats doing acrobatics and everyone surviving unscathed
To be fair, Long Island, New York tells everyone to shut up 🤣 Thanks John, I remember hearing the immediate reporting of the disaster on 9/14/01 as a possible terrorist attack (bc everyone was so paranoid), but as soon as it was deemed otherwise, the news went back to the towers 💔
Suggested you cover this over a year ago after visiting Starbase, TX, staying in SPI and hearing about the collapse….so glad to see you’re finally covering this!
John your videos are the only thing that’s been getting me through this past month in the hospital. I get out next week my friend. Don’t worry, I’m hooked on your content for good now. Thanks for making my stay here tolerable 😁🍻
Thank you
@@PlainlyDifficult You’re welcome sir. Thank you for making awesome videos 😁🍻
The balancing act all Tug boats pushing barges do astonishes me.
It's not an easy trade and it can all go wrong in an instant.
Thank you for producing this video. I was visiting family in RGV at the time of 9/11 and this bridge collapse. My family had just been to South Padre, enjoying a wonderful day at the beach, on 9/10. It's scary to know that my family had just traveled that bridge days before. We went back for a visit this summer and seeing the new sections of bridge was somber reminder to the lives lost.
Finally you did it!! I crossed that bridge several times as a child before collapse, remember that disaster on the news
Considering I live an hour and a half away from SPI, it is nice to finally see a video about this disaster
This makes me wonder how many major catastrophes mostly get ignored (at a national level) because an even bigger catastrophe happened near the same time.
After 9/11, I feel like there could have been a serial killer killing a dozen people a day and it would have barely been reported (unless they could somehow connect it to the attacks)
Sadly probably a lot
@@PlainlyDifficult Right after 9/11 we had the anthrax postal attacks, and then the DC sniper attacks. Everyone speculated that they could be linked, but they weren't, nor were they ignored. The sniper attacks in particular scared everyone because they were so random. People were fueling their cars while trying to hide behind their engine blocks or other structures, people were afraid to walk across a parking lot and put groceries in the car trunk at markets, etc. And anyone driving a white van or truck was absolutely going to get pulled over and checked out by a cop, no matter what. In the end it turned out to be two dirtbags in a blue car.
Imagine all the semi-famous people who died the week after Queen Elizabeth did.
Wasn't there a terrible plane crash in USA after 9/11
As someone from Long Island, thank you for the clarification.
You are welcome
Yes, I would've been confused otherwise. "Wait.. I don't live in Texas! ... Do I?" 😆
I remember when this happened. On my honeymoon 30 plus years ago we rented a catamaran to sail in the Laguna Madre from South Padre Island . The rental guy took us out to show me the ropes and when I asked about getting too close to the bridge he wanted to show me that the water flow wouldn’t allow us to get too close and he ran us right into the bridge and the mast got tangled up in a bridge beam.
I commented on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge video 3 weeks ago asking for this!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!
I loved in Portland, TX (just across the bay of Corpus Christi) for a few years around 2009. I wish I learned of this because bridge collapses are fascinating (despite having a great fear of the water below). We lived in Minnesota just towns away from the collapse of I35 and that was both terrifying and amazing when it happened.
I drove my truck and camper over that bridge last year. It’s really pretty down there.
I would like to go!
The thing that struck me as odd is that the bridge pilings seemed to have sunk about 20 feet after the collision with the barge. It seems to me like there may have been an error in construction if such a thing caused that.
It looks like that section was knocked off its supports by the impact and fell roughly straight down, maybe because for a few seconds it was hanging from the road deck before that collapsed too.
Love the video especially the Long Island references, just one thing of note, the pronunciation of Julio.
Who-Lee-O.
Hey John, love your videos! Not sure if you’ve done it yet, but a video on Melbourne Australia’s West Gate bridge collapse? :) keep up the great work! :)
Not yet! But I'll check it out thank you!
I live close to the South Padre Island. When you started bridge disaster videos I was hoping you would touch on this incident. Very tragic and preventable.
I'd love if you could do a video about the West Gate Bridge collapse in Melbourne, Australia. It remains to this day Australia's worst industrial disaster by loss of life, 50 years since it occured.
This one reminds me of the Tasman bridge disaster
I was listening to this during a run and just knew I'd have to sit down and watch it solely because of the "not that one" repetitions. I was not disappointed. 😂🍍
:D
I'm a local that lives in a neighboring city from this and I still remember this, it was a event that shook our communities,
That Captain is not sleeping, mate.
You pissed him off; smash that like button.
Thanks for this video. Great research. I just wish I could find the documentary called "The Collapse" about the fisherman who rescued the survivors.
I like the story part you add to your local weather report in order to make them more interesting, great job!
Thank you
"Long Island -- not that one." Thank you for making me smile & chuckle almost all the times you said that sentence in this video. 😄😂😊
Thank you John. Your animations made this easy to follow.
You're very welcome!
I live 30 min away. Wow! It's awesome to see a video of local history.
John, possible suggestion for the future for a related video: the 1993 Big Bayou Canot bridge disaster, the deadliest in Amtrak's history and the worst US rail disaster since the 1958 Newark Bay accident. (And just to help in advance if you do it: it's pronounced "By-oo Cuh-NO." Because Louisiana and southwestern Alabama used to be French.)
happy to see this tragedy covered, I haven't seen it in a lot of places. grew up going to SPI and went there recently, it's all I think about going over the causeway.
Thank you John, for covering that. I actually hadn’t heard of this. It probably wasn’t mentioned much in the news other than maybe more locally. It truly was overshadowed by the events of Sept 11 th. It was no less tragic to the people and community involved. They undoubtedly still feel the pain from the tragedy!
Hey John, would you ever consider covering the Amtrak crash in the bayou of mobile Alabama? I’m a local here and even here it’s relatively unknown, it’s the second deadliest Amtrak crash in history and has an incredible story, the story is fairly similar to this one
i'm always amazed how you make this nice and informative videos all on your own
I live about 40 minutes away from South Padre Island. I remember my aunt and uncle were vacationing in SPI when the bridge accident happened, they were stunned of course since the events of 9/11 had just occurred. They were stuck in the island for a while and had to be brought back via a boat to the main land. Every time I go to the island, when driving you could hear/feel the difference of the original bridge and the new added part of the bridge and I think of this event.
Always loved the weather report at the end! Thanks for sharing!
"not that one" ... Thanks John, I was sipping my coffee there and now need to clean up :)
The island should be renamed to slightly less long island.
Would avoid confusion.
Good idea!
Nah, surely it should be longer island
Or maybe Longish Island
"Not That One" Island 😆
My girlfriend and myself were crossing the Oregon Inlet bridge that connects mainland North Carolina to Hatteras Island where we lived when a commercial fishing vessel hit the south side supports of the channel with us at the top and it was very unnerving feeling the bridge sway. Now there's a new bridge, after years of court battles with bored rich people that don't even live there that also destroyed the local economy over a bird they fudged the numbers on. There were sections taken out on the north side by a construction barge that broke loose during a blow but as it was on the approach it was easy to see so nobody drove off but it definitely made life miserable for a long time as it took out utilities and again court battles with coastal elites. Politics should have absolutely nothing to do with people's safety yet it keeps happening.
I remember this happening. Used to go to South padre plenty of times. Definitely had doubts going over that bridge after this accident.
Another purely perfect plainly difficult production at the perfect time
Thank you!
This popped up on my feed because I'd been looking at the FSK bridge collapse a few days ago. Almost prophetic.
I had just done a search on this accident a couple of weeks ago, and was excited to see this video had been done.
I lived in B'ville for a bit, and I remember when this happened. It was so nerve wracking just after 9-11 and because I couldn't reach my boyfriend at the time.
I grew up hearing so many stories from family and family friends that were on SPI that day crossed the bridge. It feels so surreal to think that people just don't talk about it anymore.
Omg as a valley resident, i love how you brought light to this ❤❤❤
The maps and aerial photography were a big help to understand this accident.
I am appreciating your video from a currently wet corner of yes that Long Island.
Not a bridge collapse, but I would sugest the 1999 Mont Blanc Tunnel fire as a future topic.
The fire and its death toll is an example of a series of both engineering and organisational shortcommings working together.
Thank you for the suggestion
@@PlainlyDifficult Tunnel fires and rail disasters are definitely a fertile ground for videos. Baltimore had a nasty rail tunnel fire a number of years ago.
@@RCAvhstape Ah the UK summit tunnel fire is a fun one though - some of the pictures are spectacular - disclaimer - no-one was hurt or killed in this one...
As someone who lives in Long Island, I found the 'not that one' joke way funnier than it should have been.
my grandparents (rip) lived in harlingen and we'd always stay in padre when we went to visit them. i always hated crossing the causeway when i was little cause it would be night by the time we got there and being over the water in near total darkness freaked me out
Holy crap! I never expected to see a local event on this channel! My Aunt and Uncle worked at a hotel on the Island when this happened. I can't be sure, but I think they knew some of the people that fell.
As someone who lives on long Island, yes that one, I appreciate the distinction
History is "doomed to repeat itself" when the builders are consistantly given the same objective . . . "Can you built it any cheaper?"
Keep up the good work fella and, as always, stay safe!
Thanks, you too!
I have done a quick scan of the comments and been surprised not to see South Padre Islands current claim to fame mentioned.
It is a good viewing point for launches from Space X's Boca-Chica facility for their Starship Super-Heavy launcher just across the main shipping channel to the south. launches, landings (yes), engine runs and kabooms (Space-X is following a 'fail (and learn) fast' policy on development) can be viewed from there.
I love the number of times clarification has been needed to indicate that it wasn’t that New York event or that New York island. 😂
I imagine that news of this disaster back in the day may have been greatly overshadowed by talk of another tragedy which occured 4 days prior...
Syracuse, NY kid! 👋🏿
"Not that one" ☠️
I've watched mad Plainly Difficult documentaries, that's the funniest thing you've ever said, John. Yes, I replayed those parts mad times.
Slightly bewildered that this wasn't an area where use of a pilot was mandatory.
This was a terrifying event. We were all extremely on edge, in shock, traumatized by the terrorist attacks on September 11. This happened during the night and I was watching TV when the news reports came on. Everyone really thought it was another terrorist attack and we kept waiting for one to follow. Thankfully it was just an accident, but it was still terrible for the residents of South Padre and especially those who were on the bridge when it happened.
I’ve been to South Padre many times and have driven across that bridge on each trip, of course. The bridge collapse has made me hesitant to ever drive across any causeway or high bridge after dark. I still think about it any time I head to any of Texas’ barrier islands.
Wild how some of that ship's crew looks just like some of the Nuclear Operators - it's a small world!
Great video! Another bridge accident that could be interesting is the Almö Bridge aka Tjörn bridge, but the later was built to replace the former.
Very well done, with all the pictures animations and real videos.
I really liked the Long island jokes.
I love the boxes that are put up before mid-rolls.
Showing this to a friend who used to work as a tug operator/pilot out of Avonmouth docks near Bristol.
Their first words when seeing the Y and S curve were how do you expect big ships to make that turn on their own.
ollowed by:
Why is that bridge so exposed. It's asking to be hit
EDIT: Oh come on. Just because you can fly under a bridge once, doesn't mean you should rev up and give it another go. It isn't like in the movies. Even the best stunt pilots screw up and crash when doing that. Ditto or barns. I mean, the old DOS PC game Stunt Island captured this really well or a 90s DOS game. Fast jet? check. About the same height of bridge? Check. Water? Check. Razor thin margins of error? Check.
Now put that in a slow, bigger than an F-16 or fighter jet, plane. And you're asking for trouble..
And the pilot was drunk. I had to pause the video to laugh at the sheer stupidity of that...
Another in a near endless list of why boats, bridges and why we can't have nice things over water
A Cessna 182 is tiny. It is slow, true, but it is by no means bigger than any fighter. I've flown it, and am a longtime aviation writer, and just checked its dimensions, so I do know. I've also lived and flown all over Cameron County, Tx., though, um, er, not under the causeway.
Nevertheless, making it under that causeway in a light plane isn't that hard provided you're sober and know what you're doing. Should you? Of course not.
@@thomasbell7033 Darwin Award
@@thomasbell7033 Key words: Provided you are sober.
I mean, I don't want to take a 172/182 anywhere it isn't really meant to go. Makes me wonder though if things like drunk idiots going under a bridge is factored in for safety reasons or not however.
Hello from a fellow Bristolian:)
Big thanks to you for all the fantastic work you ! Keep up the great work my friend !
Thanks for including the Ford Pinto in your videos!