i am so thankful to be alive
Today, I almost died. Maybe not, but I really thought I was going to.
I was leaving the office building and walking down 41st towards Bryant Park to take the F/V train downtown. I just passed Lexington when I heard a loud explosion, and when I looked back, I saw a growing cloud of smoke, concrete, and debris. For a while, it felt like the sound was getting louder, and my ears were hurting from all of the noise. I heard people screaming and saw people running, so I started to run. I've never run so hard in my life.
As I was running, I saw pieces of concrete fly by the side of my face. A giant piece the size of my fist almost hit my head and landed in front of me. I saw people run behind columns of a business building, so I hide with them. We were trying to get inside the building through the rotating doors, but because it was after 5 PM, the doors were locked. So there I stood squished up against a door and huddled with a group of strangers, trying to stay calm amongst the madness and insanity.
I've never been so scared in my life. I had no idea what was happening. Part of me wanted to stand in the street and watch, but thank goodness I didn't because there was concrete flying everywhere. I saw a couple people get hit. It was so intense, watching people scrambling for dear life. The woman next to me was screaming for her coworkers to get back inside the building. "Get back here, Danny! Danny, no! You're going to die! Danny...!"
After what felt like an eternity but was probably only a minute real time, someone from inside the building opened one of the side doors, and we ran inside the building. I ran up an escalator and through to the other side of the building, and with the mob of people, I did a mad dash down Park Avenue. As I ran, I called my family to tell them that I was alive and safe. It was a strange feeling, calling to tell them to not only say I was safe, but to say “I love you” just in case.
People on the street kept asking, "Why is everyone running?" And people were crying, "Grand Central exploded." Grand Central is the station I take to and from work and a major subway and train station, so you can imagine my alarm. It sounded like an earthquake, but earthquakes don’t happen in New York. I really thought it was a bomb because it sounded and looked like a bomb, and being in New York, everyone thought it was a bomb.
It wasn’t. A transformer exploded. You can read the full story at cnn.com and check out this sweet video also at cnn.com.
I was leaving the office building and walking down 41st towards Bryant Park to take the F/V train downtown. I just passed Lexington when I heard a loud explosion, and when I looked back, I saw a growing cloud of smoke, concrete, and debris. For a while, it felt like the sound was getting louder, and my ears were hurting from all of the noise. I heard people screaming and saw people running, so I started to run. I've never run so hard in my life.
As I was running, I saw pieces of concrete fly by the side of my face. A giant piece the size of my fist almost hit my head and landed in front of me. I saw people run behind columns of a business building, so I hide with them. We were trying to get inside the building through the rotating doors, but because it was after 5 PM, the doors were locked. So there I stood squished up against a door and huddled with a group of strangers, trying to stay calm amongst the madness and insanity.
I've never been so scared in my life. I had no idea what was happening. Part of me wanted to stand in the street and watch, but thank goodness I didn't because there was concrete flying everywhere. I saw a couple people get hit. It was so intense, watching people scrambling for dear life. The woman next to me was screaming for her coworkers to get back inside the building. "Get back here, Danny! Danny, no! You're going to die! Danny...!"
After what felt like an eternity but was probably only a minute real time, someone from inside the building opened one of the side doors, and we ran inside the building. I ran up an escalator and through to the other side of the building, and with the mob of people, I did a mad dash down Park Avenue. As I ran, I called my family to tell them that I was alive and safe. It was a strange feeling, calling to tell them to not only say I was safe, but to say “I love you” just in case.
People on the street kept asking, "Why is everyone running?" And people were crying, "Grand Central exploded." Grand Central is the station I take to and from work and a major subway and train station, so you can imagine my alarm. It sounded like an earthquake, but earthquakes don’t happen in New York. I really thought it was a bomb because it sounded and looked like a bomb, and being in New York, everyone thought it was a bomb.
It wasn’t. A transformer exploded. You can read the full story at cnn.com and check out this sweet video also at cnn.com.