Crowds of people lined the shore watching rescuers after the four-lane span fell into the Skagit River.
The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon collapsed this evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water, the Washington State Patrol said.
The four-lane bridge collapsed about 7 p.m. Pacific time, Trooper Mark Francis said.
Francis said he had no immediate estimate of how many people were in the water or whether there were any injuries or deaths.
It also was not known what caused the collapse of the bridge about 60 miles north of Seattle.
Xavier Grospe, 62, who lives near the river, said he could see three cars with what appeared to be one person per vehicle. The vehicles were sitting still in the water, partially submerged, and the apparent drivers were sitting either on top of the vehicles or on the edge of open windows.
“It doesn’t look like anybody’s in danger right now,” Grospe said.
Helicopter footage aired by KOMO-TV in Seattle showed several rescue boats at the bridge collapse scene with several ambulances waiting on the shore. One rescue boat left the scene with one person strapped into a stretcher.
A damaged red car and a damaged pickup truck were visible in the water, which appeared so shallow it barely reached the top of the car’s hood.
Crowds of people lined the river to watch the scene unfold.
The bridge is not considered structurally deficient but is listed as being “functionally obsolete” -- a category meaning that their design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders or low clearance underneath, according to a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration.
Washington state was given a C in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- when it came to the state’s bridges. The group said more than a quarter of Washington’s 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient of functionally obsolete.