We learned earlier this year in Baltimore that bridges are not as resilient as we thought. A bridge in the Philippines held up to the impact of several barges last week as Typhoon Gaemi, a Category 4 storm, raged across East Asia. Dramatic video of the crash shows the muddy currents of a river slamming three barges into the deck of a low bridge.
The footage was recorded by Alex Rellosa from the balcony of her apartment near the F. Manalo Bridge in Pasig, a city about 8 miles east of Manila. She told AFP: “I heard screams, so I went to the balcony. I saw people stranded on boats.” The typhoon left a trail of destruction in its path, killing 21 people and displacing more than half a million others. The storm had winds of up to 145 miles per hour and dropped a foot of rain on Manila.
Although the ships did not destroy the bridge, the Philippines did not escape a maritime disaster. The oil tanker MT Terra Nova capsized in Manila Bay while carrying nearly 400,000 gallons of industrial oil, Reuters reports. The ship began leaking oil as it sank. The full extent of the oil spill is not known, but it is believed to be the largest in the country’s history.
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