Twitter user reports Bay Bridge damage

Once again, Twitter and Twitpic are used to get word out about major news

Earlier this evening, three pieces of the San Francisco Bay Bridge snapped and hit three cars.  Thankfully, nobody was injured according to the San Francisco Chronicle.  This caused some major traffic and now the bridge is closed indefinitely.  

It's interesting to note the first reports seem to have been made on Twitter.  Twitter user @larfo snapped a photo and posted it via photo sharing site, Twitpic.  By the looks of Twitter streams, @larfo reported the news 10 minutes before @abc7newsBayArea did.  

This is another clear example of the power of Twitter and citizen journalism.  Twitter was also the first means of communication during the Hudson Plane Crash and also used widely to report news during the Mumbai bombings.  

Tony Anziano, Caltrains toll bridge program manager told the SF Chronicle, "It's way too early to say (what happened).  We have to take a careful look at it."  

According to SFGate,

"The pieces crashed across the westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge's eastern span, east of Yerba Buena Island, at about 5:30 p.m., according to CHP Officer Peter Van Eckhardt. They hit three vehicles, but miraculously, nobody was seriously injured."

Good luck getting to work tomorrow everybody.  I'll be Tweeting some pics of the packed Bart stations.