LRandyB's Tropical Weather Discussion

Last Updated: 2:00 PM GMT on November 08, 2009 — Last Comment: 1:21 PM GMT on November 11, 2009

	Remembering 9/11

Posted by: LRandyB, 4:25 PM GMT on September 12, 2009

Hi folks,

The tropics have been relatively quite and I have been busy working so I haven't posted much lately. One of my bloggers who has been reading me for a while remembered a story I posted a few years ago about my experience in NYC on 9/11/01. They asked that I post it again in remembrance of the event. I had to think about it a bit. Mine was but one of many stories that day and I don't think mine was a particularly compelling story. I still think about the people who didn't live to tell their story and the people whose stories truly touched other peoples lives that day. I don't feel mine fell into that catagory but I will repost here in honor of those who can't tell their story.

I don't really mind talking about it! It was a tough experience but I really feel lucky to be able to sit here and tell anyone about it. So many can't.

I'll just kinda tell you the story of how I came to be there.

I had been enrolled in an IBM training series. The first class was three weeks earlier in mid August of 2001. I had stayed at that time in the World Trade Center Marriot. If you've never been there, it was a very fancy high priced hotel. My company was paying so I didn't care but it happened to be the only thing available for me at the time. My next class was scheduled for 9/11. I had booked my room in the World Trade Center Marriot for that class, arriving on 9/10 (Monday night) and leaving that Friday afternoon after the class. A week before the class, I had heard from one of my classmates who told me that the Seaport Best Western on the east side of Lower Manhattan (the World Trade Center was on the west side) was a bit cheaper and a couple of blocks closer to the class than the WTC Marriot was. So I changed my reservation 3 days before the class. In retrospect, I realize that probably saved my life. I really don't know if I'd be here today if I hadn't made that change.I arrived at LaGuardia late on the 10th (like around midnight). I took a cab. I remember going past the WTC and past the Marriot. I remember thinking I should have kept the Marriot reservations because it was such a nice hotel. I got to my hotel, checked in and found a pub nearby that was about to close but I was able to get a sandwich before going to bed. I was starving.

The next morning I woke up. The window in my room faced east so I could see the sunrise but the WTC was west of me so I couldn't see it. I got in the shower and got dressed. I stepped out on the street at the hotel and there was a huge crowd standing in the street looking up. I turned around and looked and saw smoke pouring out of the north tower. I was on the east side of the tower so I couldn't see the hole in the north side. I used to be a fireman so the first thing that came to my mind was how terrible to have a fire so high in the building. I knew it would take an hour or more just to get firefighters there. I watched for a minute and then saw someone jump from the north side of the north tower. I was only about 4 or 5 blocks away. The crowd around me gasped. I mean it was audible. I was stunned.. shocked I think. Then another person jumped... then a couple more jumped together. I felt bad... I was there with the rest of the crowd and I felt kinda riveted to the scene. I was horrified watching these people jump to their deaths but I couldn't turn away. I think by far for me, that was the worst part of the whole experience watching people jump. For months afterwards I couldn't get out of my mind what must have driven those people to make that choice. And I had nightmares for a while about it. It was something of an obsession I couldn't get away from. After a few minutes I was about to turn away and go to my class. About the time I had decided to head to my class, I saw a plane come in from the south. At first it seemed strange to me, flying as often as I do that this plane was so low and fast, but I knew LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark were all in the local area. So my first instant thought was that this plane was flying at some distance behind the towers. And for a split second it seemed like that was what it was doing. I actually saw the plane disappear .. I thought it was behind the building. Then the whole side of the south tower facing me exploded outward toward me. The explosion was unbelievable. A piece of the plane flew off and headed toward the area where I was but it fell short by a block or so (I later found out it was one of the engines). I was trying to understand what had just happened when I heard a couple of people in the crowd say something about "another plane". I asked the person next to me what they meant and he told me that the first tower had also been hit by a plane. Of course, at this point I was in shock. I had a camera in my computer bag but it never even came to my mind. In retrospect I wish it had. But it didn't. I watched for a few minutes. It didn't take long .. maybe 5 minutes.. before the same scene was playing out in the south tower that I had just watched in the north tower. People started jumping from the tower to avoid the fires. I was starting to feel sick. I realized that I needed to call home and let everyone know I was fine. I tried my cell as I stood there but couldn't get a signal. I turned around and went into the hotel and went to my room. I turned on the TV and then sat on the bed and called my wife at work. I let her know I was ok. Needless to say, she was hysterical. She didn't know I had changed hotels or exactly where in NYC I was. Then I called work and couple of other friends and relatives. I watched the TV long enough to realize no one rally knew what was going on. Then I headed to my class. I don't know why. I guess it was just because that's what I was there for so I went. Once at the class location, it was pretty much chaos. While there, we heard about the Pentagon and other possible airplanes. It became obvious what had happened. The director cancelled the class, took names and numbers of everyone so they could contact us later to reschedule, and told us to go home. As I got off the elevator on the second floor (they had a mezzanine you had to walk down from) the lights in the building flickered. As I was coming down the escalator, I saw people outside running. I went through the doors outside and was literally knocked down by someone running down the sidewalk. I was carrying a number of books. I picked those up quickly and stood up and looked toward the WTC and all I saw was a massive cloud moving down the street. It literally obscured everything more than a block away from. I couldn't see the WTC or the tops of even any of the close buildings. I've seen a couple of programs on TLC or the Discovery Channel on building demolitions and it was such a classic look that I knew immediately what had happened. That cloud looked just like the ones I had seen on TV when a building is imploded. Now, after the fact, I really honestly don't know why I didn't just turn around and go back inside but that didn't cross my mind or maybe it did but there was still a stream of people coming out of the building but in any case, I didn't go back inside. The cloud was coming fast. From the time I saw until it got to me was probably 5 or 6 seconds. I took two steps forward, off the curb and dropped to my knees in between the bumpers to cars parked against the curb. I kinda ducked down and almost immediately it started to get dark. Within a few seconds it was almost pitch black and my eyes started burning and watering from the dust in the air so I closed them and pulled my shirt up over my face to cover my mouth. I could hear a woman scream somewhere around me but I couldn't see anything so I just waited. The noise was kinda like a fog.. everything was suddenly muffled. The thing I remember the most was a sound like small hail hitting the cars on either side of me. I really don't know what it was but I have to guess it was larger particles of concrete carried by the cloud dropping onto the metal of the cars. Every few seconds I tried opening my eyes again and couldn't. I think this was the only time in that whole day that I feared for my own safety. I wasn't scared and I don't think it crossed my mind that I might die. But I remember kneeling there trying to think... how far away from those buildings am I? .. how tall are they?.... which way did they fall?.... I got a bit nervous when I realized if they fell sideways, I was probably close enough to get hit. But within a few seconds I deduced that if that were going to happen, it already would have. So I just waited. In my recollection, it seemed like forever that I kneeled there. I said more than one prayer as I recall. But in reality it was probably just 5 or 6 minutes before the dust began thinning to the point of letting in some light. It was still too thick to keep my eyes open for any length of time so I stood up and leaned against one of the cars and just opened my eyes every few seconds to try to get a look around. The dust started to settle out pretty quick then. Within a couple of minutes you could dimly see the sun shining through the dust (it was a beautiful day as far as weather went... blue sky.. nice temps) and I started seeing people around me moving. Everyone was just literally coated with this dust. I looked down and realized I was too. I kinda tried to shake off some of it and shook it out of my hair but it was pointless to try to get it all. Some people didn't even bother. I think they were in more shock than I was. They just walked down the street covered in dust looking rather dazed. It was a bit surreal. I kept my shirt over my mouth but squinted through the dust that was still settling and headed for my hotel. It was about 2 blocks away. It only took a few minutes. Everyone else was walking in the same direction. All away from the WTC and most were headed for the the Brooklyn Bridge. I got to my hotel. There were people in the lobby covered with dust. I went up to my room and looked in the mirror. Then I just washed my face and hands and dusted off my clothes. I turned the TV back on to see what was going on. By then, I think it was pretty obvious to everyone what had happened. I really don't remember now what details were known at that point.. whether or not the PA flight had already crashed .. I seem to recall there were still fears of more hijacked planes in the air. The ATC system was shutting down and all planes were being ordered to land. I made some more phone calls to let everyone know I was ok. Then not long later, the TV showed the other building collapsing. I went out into the hallway and to a window on that side of the building and could see another dust cloud coming. I went back to my room and waited. There were thousands of people on the street flowing by my hotel all headed toward the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a sight to see. The bridge itself had no car traffic. It was wall to wall people all headed out of lower Manhattan.

It wasn't long before I started getting pretty antsy. I used to be an EMT so I thought maybe I could help. I grabbed my camera and went down to the front desk and asked where the nearest hospital was. The desk clerk looked scared and asked me if I needed an ambulance. I explained to her what I was trying to do. She directed me to NYU Downtown Hospital a couple of blocks away. I walked there and asked a doctor if there was somewhere they were taking volunteers. He pointed the way. I signed in. They issued me a mask to put over my face to protect against whatever might be in the dust in the air and was put to work in a triage area they had set up out in front of the ER entrance. A couple of folks came in over the next half hour or so but none with really serious injuries. It became sadly appearant after a short time that there would be no patients coming in. The city decided to set up a medical tent somewhere else north of the WTC so most of the doctors went there. I was told I wouldn't be needed anymore so I left and started walking around the financial district with my camera. They hadn't blocked off the WTC area yet (they did so within a half hour or so later though) but I had decided I really didn't want to get THAT close to the buildings. I wandered around taking pictures. At one point, I was walking up a street in the general direction of the WTC when a crowd of police and firemen came toward me running in the other direction. I had no idea what they were running from but decided I should probably go with them. We all stopped about a block away and turned around. 7 World Trade Center, which I believe was the Millennium Marriot Hotel, was in the process of collapsing. This was around 5pm or so. I continued to walk around. The place was pretty much deserted. I didn't pass many people which was also strange in that huge city. As I got down toward the southern end of Manhattan near the point where the Staten Island Ferry picks people up I ran into a lot of people there. They were using the ferries to get people out of the area. As I walked along I took more pictures and eventually made my way back to my hotel. It was dusk by then. While I was gone, the power went out. Apparently there was a power substation under 7 WTC and when it collapse it took out the rest of the power in lower Manhattan. So the elevator wasn't working in the hotel. And to complicate things the hotel didn't have emergency lights in the stairwell so I couldn't get to my room. The hotel staff was trying to dig up flashlights and candles for the guests. I sat on a bench near the hotel and watched what few people there were go by. Power company people were already in the area working. I asked one of them if they knew when they might have power back and he just laughed and said give us a week to figure what we lost and we'll let you know! I took a picture of the setting sunlight filtering through the cloud of smoke that was still pouring from the WTC complex. After it got dark I walked back into the hotel lobby and they had managed to get sandwiches from a shop nearby before they closed and went home. They were giving them out so I grabbed one. It was until then that I realized I hadn't eaten all day. They still didn't have any lights. But they had found some tea light candles. I took two or three and a book of matches but I couldn't keep the candle lit walking with it. At some point it dawned on me that I could use the LCD screen on my camera to light the stairs so I could get to my room so that's what I did. I was on the 7th floor so it took a bit to get up that way. The LCD screen didn't give off a lot of light despite the fact that I was displaying the brightest picture I had. But it was enough to see the stair steps right in front of me. Every few seconds, the screen would blank to save battery and I'd have to fumble with it a minute to get the image back on. I finally made it to my room. I lit a candle and decided to take a shower to get the dust off me. I figured I'd better get it before the water in their hot water heaters went cold.

I kinda took inventory. By this point the battery in my laptop, camera, and cell phone were all dead and power was out so I couldn't recharge anything. It was dark. At least I had showered and the temps were comfortable. So I opened my window and went to bed. By the next morning (Wednesday) I was ready to leave. The day before I had watched TV all afternoon before going for my walk to take pictures and I had gotten sick of seeing the images over and over again of the plane hitting the south tower. Now, the next morning, I was starved for information. I wanted to know what they had found. And I couldn't get it! Also, most everyone had left the area. No one was open. I couldn't get food anywhere. So I decided to take my chances. I couldn't call to get a reservation anywhere. So I packed my luggage and checked out and headed north. Fortunately I had packed pretty light. I had a single roller bag and my computer bag. It still proved to be a long walk. I started heading north toward mid-town Manhattan. At every pay phone along the way I tried calling home. I was on the road for probably an hour before I finally found a working phone. I called my wife and let her know I was ok and asked her to get online and find me a hotel room somewhere around Times Square. I told her I'd call her when I got closer. It took me about 3 hours of walking with my luggage and I literally wore the wheels off my roller bag but I got there and my wife managed to get a room for me at a nice hotel. I stayed there until Friday. I was scheduled to fly out Friday but of course the planes were all still grounded. I finally managed to get a train seat to Orlando. That was a 24 hour train ride that seemed to last forever but I finally got out of NYC!

9/11