Baltimore begins massive and dangerous cleanup after bridge collapse

Huge crane ships, thousands of relief workers and millions of dollars headed toward Baltimore on Thursday, as efforts turned from recovery after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge to a massive cleanup that some experts described as unprecedented and highly dangerous.

The U.S. Navy deployed several floating cranes, including one that could lift 1,000 tons, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it would send more than 1,100 engineering specialists and other experts to begin removing the hulking debris that has crippled the Port of Baltimore.

Federal officials also announced the first relief funds — $60 million sought by Maryland officials — would flow toward disaster recovery just hours after the request was submitted.

Top officials with the Corps, which is leading the effort to clear the Patapsco River, described a three step effort to get one of the nation’s largest shipping hubs back online. They are racing to stem the rippling economic fallout from a cargo ship striking the bridge on Tuesday.

Teams would first try to clear the shipping channel of the massive steel trusses that block it to allow one-way traffic to begin flowing again into and out of the port. Second, they would lift pieces of the bridge draped across the 985-foot Dali and move it. Finally, they would dredge up concrete and steel that have settled on the river bed.