#WEBBER FALLS OK BRIDGE COLLAPLE DRIVERS#
#WEBBER FALLS OK BRIDGE COLLAPLE DRIVER#

Coincidentally, Cole’s 50-year high school graduation reunion will take place at the park in June. The bridge collapse is now a part of Webbers Falls.Ī monument to those lost was erected in Webbers Falls City Park a year after the collapse. 'Very surreal, tragic time': ODOT spokeswoman remembers 2002 Webbers Falls bridge collapse Gone but not forgotten: Former mayor to host memorial in honor of Webbers Falls bridge tragedy “The real heroes are those fishermen that pulled that trucker out of the water and those divers that had to go down and do other recovery,” Cole said. Barton was then able to rescue another driver, James Bilyeu, from the river.

#WEBBER FALLS OK BRIDGE COLLAPLE DRIVER#

Barton said Wilhoit and another fisherman, Kirk Washburn, then sprung to action and pulled truck driver Rodney Tidwell from the water. The death toll from the highway bridge collapse climbed to 14 on Wednesday when the body of a 3-year-old girl was found floating in. In a 2002 interview with CNN, bass fisherman Norman Barton credited angler Alton Wilhoit with firing the flare.

#WEBBER FALLS OK BRIDGE COLLAPLE DRIVERS#

One fisherman had fired a flare into the sky, potentially alerting drivers to the danger and allowing them to stop in time. Bodies continued to be recovered for four days.Ĭole talked to other bystanders and later learned of the rescue efforts by law enforcement and the fishermen he had seen that morning on his way to work.

In total, 14 people died and 11 were injured. “I think he had to hotwire the car.”īut in an instant, those fond memories were replaced by tragedy. May 26 marks 20 years since a tugboat hauling two barges slammed into the Interstate 40 (I-40) bridge over the Arkansas. “I don’t think he found them,” Cole said with a chuckle. His dad dove to the river bottom over and over searching fruitlessly. The I-40 bridge near Webbers Falls, OK, reopened to traffic just 65 days. He recalls one fishing trip where his father’s keys slipped from his pocket and into the water. Area Status: Open The water for Webber Falls comes out of Webber Lake which is. Cole said the current didn’t use to be so strong. And he grew up fishing for catfish here with his father, who would paddle an old rowboat out into the river to set up trout lines. It happened when a barge hit the bridge on May 26, 2002. He and some friends water-skied here after graduating from high school. Last week marked 20 years since the deadly I-40 bridge collapse in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. You just always wish there was something you could have done.”Ĭole knew this stretch of the river well. And the water was swift, it was really moving.

Webber falls ok bridge collaple