Hi, folks. I know NYTelecom works nearby (across the river?), but I can tell you all that today has been (and will continue to be for a loooong time) the single most bizarre, surreal event I have witnessed.
I work in an office building at 26 Broadway in Manhattan, about 10 blocks from the World Trade towers. This morning, as per my usual routine, I got off the subway at Broadway and Wall Street at about 9:05am - the second plane had just crashed into the second tower. Broadway and the surrounding streets were full of thousands of people - some staring, some sobbing, others with a look of utter terror - just watching as the Twin Towers burned. Hundreds of thousands of pieces of paper fluttered down all around me; as well as ash, burnt insulation, dust and smoke blowing towards the throngs of people outside. I stood - horrified and sick for the loss of life - for nearly 20 minutes and watched the fire and thick, black smoke pouring out of 2 tremndous, gaping holes in the southeast corners of the towers. I remember thinking to myself, "If the impact of whatever did this (I didn't know about the planes at that time) doesn't cause the top 1/3 of those towers to collapse, the intense heat from the fires will buckle the supporting beams." At that time I decided to go into my office, where it would be safer. Nearly an hour after that, the first tower that was hit did just that. My co-workers and I felt and heard a rumble like an earthquake as the section of tower above the fires collapsed in on itself. Millions of tons of ash and debris came violently crashing down onto the World Trade Plaza, and spread outward - covering the immediate Downtown Financial District. I initially thought that a bomb had been set off at the New York Stock Exchange, one block away. We all evacuated the 3rd floor via the stairway to the lobby, but were told by building and emergency services that it was safer back upstairs. So, we returned, shaken, to our floor. Forty-five minutes later, the second tower collapsed, agin with a rumbling like I've never experienced before. We had radios by that time, and immediately heard that the second tower had fallen. We had already closed all windows on our floor, and had been told by Building Services to stay away from windows.
Now, we wait to hear from Emergency Services as to when it will be OK to leave the building. All subway trains, buses, bridges and tunnels have been closed. There are US fighter planes patrolling airspace above Manhattan with orders to shoot down anything that isn't supposed to up there - and right now, that's anything not affiliated with the military.
There are no words to express the horror and utter sadness for those who have died less than 1/4 of a mile from where I now sit. My heart goes out to all those who have lost family, friends and loved ones in this terrrible tragedy. I am a little stunned as I write this, but I'll be OK for now. Time will tell about how much of a psychological shock this will be to those closer to the disaster site.
--Michael
"Any day spent NOT knocking on doors is a good day!"