The Queen Isabella collapses Causeway cut by barge; link to mainland severed Above, an urgent message was posted on the window of the South Padre Island Harpoon Barry tattoo shop on the morning of the bridge collapse. Harpoon Barry died in the incident. A car, left, rests on columns beneath the severed portion of the Queen Isabella Causeway.

The collision caused several spans of the bridge, the only road link to the resort island of South Padre Island, Texas, to fall, and, in the moonless night, several vehicles drove off the jagged edges to the murky water 85 feet below.

Eight people died, and three were rescued by fishermen in the area.

Several thousand tourists, workers and residents were stranded as South Padre Island and state officials worked to provide answers, options and a plan for moving people off the island.

Several charter boat operators began an impromptu ferry operation, and managed to move thousands of tourists off of South Padre Island in just two days.

Many island businesses have temporarily closed because the tourists on which the local economy depends are not coming.

My wife, Alicia Wagner Calzada, a freelance photographer for the Associated Press and many publications, and I shot out the door of our flat on the island and made the first photos on digital cameras. When we tried to transmit the photos via computer, we found that the phones no longer worked. We were able to catch ridess on private boats to the mainland, where we transmitted our photos via phone lines borrowed from several kind business owners in Port Isabel.

For more news photography of the Queen Isabella Causeway collapse, visit the web site of Alicia Wagner Calzada,
Visual Journey

Below, fishermen go about their business despite the tragic accident.