email308.xml
Title
email308.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
email
Date Entered
2002-08-19
September 11 Email: Body
Pardon my "form letter", but I wanted to get word out and let folks know that my family and I are okay.
I don't know if most of you know this, but I work three blocks away from the World Trade Center. I was sitting at my desk when I felt and heard the first explosion. I remember thinking that it was too sunny out for it to have been thunder (we had a bad storm last night). A few minutes later, several people came over to my desk and said that
a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, and they tried to look out my window. All we could see out of the window was smoke and loads of papers flying all over. We went to our break room/pantry, and were standing around watching the news coverage of the first crash when the second plane hit. We felt the second explosion as we
watched the second plane hit the other tower. That's when we realized this was no accident.
We were told to leave the building. Once down in our office lobby, it looked like everyone else in the building had the same idea. Some moron from the building's Fire Safety staff was announcing that our building was not being evacuated, that it was secure, and that they were encouraging people to return to their floors. The manager who had instructed us to leave our office (who also happens to be one of
my good friends on the job) said that was the dumbest announcement he ever heard. Three of us watched the smoke pouring out of the hole in one of the two buildings, and the full reality of it had yet to sink in. We stayed that way for a few more minutes, trying our cell phones in the hopes of calling family members to let them know we were okay, but cell phones were useless. So, I and one of our visitors from our Virginia office went down into the lower level of our building to find a pay phone, and to catch a subway train uptown. Fortunately, we were able to get a train fairly easily, and I had no problems catching a Queens-bound train at Times Square, so I was well on my
way home and out of the area when the World Trade Center buildings collapsed.
My one sister lives in Manhattan, but far away from everything. My mother, and my younger sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew all live in Queens near me. We're understandably shaken up and upset, but alive and well.
All of downtown Manhattan will be closed tomorrow to civilians, so that the rescue workers can work unhindered. I do not envy them.
@-->-->---
Carol/SinginRose
I don't know if most of you know this, but I work three blocks away from the World Trade Center. I was sitting at my desk when I felt and heard the first explosion. I remember thinking that it was too sunny out for it to have been thunder (we had a bad storm last night). A few minutes later, several people came over to my desk and said that
a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, and they tried to look out my window. All we could see out of the window was smoke and loads of papers flying all over. We went to our break room/pantry, and were standing around watching the news coverage of the first crash when the second plane hit. We felt the second explosion as we
watched the second plane hit the other tower. That's when we realized this was no accident.
We were told to leave the building. Once down in our office lobby, it looked like everyone else in the building had the same idea. Some moron from the building's Fire Safety staff was announcing that our building was not being evacuated, that it was secure, and that they were encouraging people to return to their floors. The manager who had instructed us to leave our office (who also happens to be one of
my good friends on the job) said that was the dumbest announcement he ever heard. Three of us watched the smoke pouring out of the hole in one of the two buildings, and the full reality of it had yet to sink in. We stayed that way for a few more minutes, trying our cell phones in the hopes of calling family members to let them know we were okay, but cell phones were useless. So, I and one of our visitors from our Virginia office went down into the lower level of our building to find a pay phone, and to catch a subway train uptown. Fortunately, we were able to get a train fairly easily, and I had no problems catching a Queens-bound train at Times Square, so I was well on my
way home and out of the area when the World Trade Center buildings collapsed.
My one sister lives in Manhattan, but far away from everything. My mother, and my younger sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew all live in Queens near me. We're understandably shaken up and upset, but alive and well.
All of downtown Manhattan will be closed tomorrow to civilians, so that the rescue workers can work unhindered. I do not envy them.
@-->-->---
Carol/SinginRose
September 11 Email: Date
09-12-2001
September 11 Email: Subject
I'm shaken, but otherwise okay
Collection
Citation
“email308.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed June 17, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/36878.