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By Matthew Perlman
Brooklyn Daily
Brooklyn Bridge is falling down.
A group of people who, according to reports, huddled under the bridge seeking shelter from a torrential downpour last night got a rude surprise when they were hit with a hail of granite bricks from a bridge-support wall that collapsed during the rainstorm Wednesday night, according to fire officials. The collapse at Prospect and Washington streets injured three kids and two adults, according to the Fire Department.
Fire personnel got the call at 7:41 pm and paramedics rushed the battered victims to Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan to be treated for minor injuries, according to an FDNY rep.
It is unclear what caused the collapse, but federal records analyzed by the Associated Press indicate that the entire bridge is in dire need of repair and at risk of collapsing.
The iconic span has been undergoing major renovations for the last four years as part of a project that the Department of Transportation expects to wrap up next year. The scope of that work does not seem to encompass the section of wall that crumbled.
The support behind the wall is structurally sound, but an inspection of the bridge is ongoing, a transportation department rep said.