I woke up this morning and heard on the radio after getting out of the shower that an airplane had crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. The radio correspondant described a gaping hole one third from the top of the building, flames inside, smoke billowing out. The correspondand was reporting from the roof of her apartment building downtown. I left for the subway at that point and could see the smoke from Roosevelt Ave in Queens. It was black and rising up several thousand feet in the air. The contrast of the clear blue sky made it even more noticable.
I got on the subway and during the trip someone with a transistor radio mentioned that BOTH buildings had been hit by seperate airplanes. As I rounded Queensboro Plaza I could see smoke rising from both buildings simultaneously, the tops of each turned completely black like a matchstick.
I feel sick to my stomach.
I got into work (I work near Times Square) and as expected found my voicemail light on. An urgent message from my brother. I keep trying to call him but the switches are swamped; can’t get through to his cell provider. Presumably all eight million residents of this city are calling their relatives. I finally got through and left a mesage. Still haven’t heard back from him - he’s probably trapped downtown near his apartment.
CNN is completely down. MSNBB is down. Slashdot has the story, but is performing slowly. I can get email, but outside routers are failing all over the Internet do the surge in traffic.
I cannot get through to my mother in northern Westchester.
People are going home, but I have no where to go. The bridges are closed and the subway is shut down. I have to stay here.
More to come when my fingers stop shaking.