Darlene Irwin, who lives nearby the Key Bridge, told the BBC that she first noticed something was wrong when she heard a “rumbling sound” in the middle of the night.
She said it only lasted a couple of seconds. “I wasn’t sure what it was,” Irwin said.
But soon enough, she heard the news that the bridge had collapsed.
She then went outside to look in the direction of the bridge, when daylight hadn’t dawned yet on the city.
“We couldn’t see much, just the blinking lights,” Irwin said, adding that she was in disbelief.
“You’re looking at it, but you just don’t think it’s something that could happen.”
She said her first thoughts were of how many people may have been on the bridge when it fell into the water.
“To see it now in the daylight,” she said, “it is just tragic.”
