Several practice automobiles are immersed within the Yellowstone River after a bridge collapse close to Columbus, Mont., on Saturday. The bridge collapsed in a single day, inflicting a practice that was touring over it to plunge into the water under.

Matthew Brown/AP

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Matthew Brown/AP

Several practice automobiles are immersed within the Yellowstone River after a bridge collapse close to Columbus, Mont., on Saturday. The bridge collapsed in a single day, inflicting a practice that was touring over it to plunge into the water under.

Matthew Brown/AP

COLUMBUS, Mont. — A bridge that crosses the Yellowstone River in Montana collapsed early Saturday, plunging parts of a freight practice carrying hazardous supplies into the dashing water under.

The practice automobiles have been carrying sizzling asphalt and molten sulfur, Stillwater County Disaster and Emergency Services mentioned. Officials shut down consuming water intakes downstream whereas they evaluated the hazard after the 6 a.m. accident. An Associated Press reporter witnessed a yellow substance popping out of a few of the tank automobiles.

David Stamey, the county’s chief of emergency providers, mentioned there was no rapid hazard for the crews working on the web site, and the hazardous materials was being diluted by the swollen river. There have been three asphalt automobiles and 4 sulfur automobiles within the river.

The practice crew was protected and no accidents have been reported, Montana Rail Link spokesman Andy Garland mentioned in an announcement. The asphalt and sulfur each solidify shortly when uncovered to cooler temperatures, he mentioned.

Railroad crews have been on the scene in Stillwater County, close to the city of Columbus, about 40 miles west of Billings. The space is in a sparsely populated part of the Yellowstone River Valley, surrounded by ranch and farmland. The river there flows away from Yellowstone National Park, which is about 110 miles southwest.

“We are committed to addressing any potential impacts to the area as a result of this incident and working to understand the reasons behind the accident,” Garland mentioned.

The bridge collapse additionally took out a fiber-optic cable offering web service to many shoppers within the state, the high-speed supplier Global Net mentioned.

“This is the major fiber route … through Montana,” a recording on the corporate’s cellphone line mentioned Saturday. “This is affecting all Global Net customers. Connectivity will either be down or extremely slow.”

In neighboring Yellowstone County, officers mentioned they instituted emergency measures at water therapy vegetation as a result of “potential hazmat spill” and requested residents to preserve water.

The explanation for the collapse is below investigation. The river was swollen with current heavy rains, but it surely’s unclear whether or not that was an element.

The Yellowstone saw record flooding in 2022 that prompted intensive harm to Yellowstone National Park and adjoining cities in Montana. Robert Bea, a retired engineering professor on the University of California Berkeley who has analyzed the causes of tons of of main disasters, mentioned repeated years of heavy river flows supplied a clue to the potential trigger.

“The high water flow translates to high forces acting directly on the pier and, importantly, on the river bottom,” Bea mentioned. “You can have erosion or scour that removes support from the foundation. High forces translate to a high likelihood of a structural or foundation failure that could act as a trigger to initiate the accident.”

An previous freeway bridge that paralleled the railroad bridge — collectively, they have been referred to as the Twin Bridges — was eliminated in 2021 after the Montana Department of Transportation decided it was in imminent hazard of falling. It wasn’t instantly clear when the railroad bridge was constructed or when it was final inspected.

Bea mentioned investigators would additionally wish to have a look at whether or not there was put on or rust in bridge parts in addition to a report of upkeep, restore and inspections.

Federal Railroad Administration officers have been on the scene.

Kelly Hitchcock of the Columbus Water Users shut off the circulation of river water into an irrigation ditch downstream from the collapsed bridge to forestall contents from the tank automobiles from reaching close by farmland. The Stillwater County Sheriff’s Office referred to as the group Saturday morning to warn it concerning the collapse, Hitchcock mentioned.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notes that sulfur is a standard component used as a fertilizer in addition to an insecticide, fungicide and rodenticide.