Ohio community reacts to collapse of Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- As search and rescue efforts continue following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the Baltimore community is top of mind for some in central Ohio.

“It was kind of utterly shocking, I’ve been over that bridge a bazillion times," Matthew Raskin said.

Raskin is a senior at The Ohio State University (OSU) and is from just north of the city of Baltimore. He said his parents and friends both used the bridge often and that his heart goes out to the families of those who crews are still looking for.

"I can't imagine what they’re going through, especially since boats go in and out of that every day, that one happened to drift off course and hit while they were on it is just absolutely terrible," Raskin said. "Going over that bridge you get marvelous views of the city, it’s one of the best ways to look at the city and to see that gone it's really a tragedy." 

Nathan Dunmoyer, a commander of the Columbus Division of Fire's Dive and Rescue Team (DART), first heard about what happened early Tuesday morning.

“I start wondering about when I hear they’re putting divers in the water, I'm wondering like what they’re running into, the hazards of everything, like what different obstacles they’re going to be facing," Dunmover said.

He said while Columbus has nothing like the port, it's still a situation the division can learn from.

While rescue crews will be studying this, so will engineers. Eric Steinberg, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education at Ohio University's Russ College of Engineering and Technology, said the situation will be a topic of discussions in structural design courses. He also said the situation will be studied for years and could cause changes to future design codes.

"It's very very very rare. As designers we always try to think about everything that can possibly happen. But things change over time," Steinberg said. "It's unfortunate, our infrastructure is of course getting up in age and it's hard to keep up with the demands from traffic and just age, so we struggle with that on a regular basis as engineers."