This bridge is the only vehicle access to the island. The rail bridge has not been used for a long time. No one was injured. Although two deckhands went into the water, but they were quickly rescued.
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| Keith Johnson, May 2024 |
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| abc13 It happened around 10:00am May 15, 2024. When you watch the video, you can see that there is a strong current flowing past the barge. There are no residents on the island [actually, there are a few] and Texas A&M already had their graduation. "The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is shut down for approximately 6.5 miles between marker 350.5 to 357 as officials respond to this incident, County Judge Mark Henry said, adding that the oil spill is heading in that direction, so the U.S. Coast Guard decided to move forward with the closure." |
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| abc13 They reopened the bridge "allowing drivers to pass the bridge one by one, at about 20 feet apart." But at about 6pm evacuations were cancelled " because the bridge was 'unstable' and 'handrails and concrete were seen shifting.'" At 8pm, people were again allowed to leave the island, but no one could enter the island. Traffic to leave was still congested by 9pm. |
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| abc13 "Officials told ABC13 that two crew members on the ship were either thrown or jumped off, but they were rescued quickly. Emergency management leaders confirmed with ABC13 that there were less than 200 people on the island when the incident happened. Vacuum gas oil is leaking from the barge, which has a capacity of 30,000 gallons and is operated by Martin Operating Partnership." "The causeway itself is 3,239 feet long [987m] with a span of 164.1 feet [50m]." Plans were already underway to replace the bridge because it was built in 1960 and "is at the end of its functional life." Construction was planned to begin in Summer 2025. |
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| abc13 The barge broke loose from its towboat. One of the towboats in this image was handling the barge and the other had been sent to help retrieve the barge. "Officials say the liquid is vacuum gas oil, a heavy oil byproduct of vacuum distillation of crude oil. Honeywell, who was not involved in this incident, describes VGO as 'a key feedstock for fluid catalytic crackers used to make transportation fuels and many other by-products.'" |
I did find one photo on a page that was updated at 9pm that showed an oil boom deployed around the leaking end of the barge. [click2houston]
The railroad bridge is in the foreground.
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| Chloe Tess Tan, Jan 2024 |
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| Patrick Feller Flickr via BridgeHunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) |
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| Douglas Butler posted Pelican Island Bascule Bridge in the lowered position Houston Chronicle. Douglas Butler shared |
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| Street View, Mar 2024 |
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