NYTimes.com Article: New York City Shuts Down

From: Lynne d Johnson (ldj00@earthlink.net)
Date: Tue Sep 11 2001 - 18:01:17 CEST

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    > New York City Shuts Down
    >
    > By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
    >
    >
    >
    > NEW YORK -- Terrorist attacks at the peak of rush hour paralyzed
    > Manhattan, shutting down subway lines, crippling cellular phone
    > service, and forcing evacuations from Wall Street to the United
    > Nations.
    >
    > The mayor closed lower Manhattan to make way for emergency
    > vehicles. Thousands of people left by walking across the Brooklyn
    > Bridge.
    >
    > The election was called off. The airports were closed. Trading on
    > Wall Street was suspended. The United Nations building was
    > evacuated. Offices throughout Manhattan closed. Children were kept
    > in their schools because their parents could not get to them.
    >
    > Victims from the attack on the World Trade Center -- many suffering
    > from extensive burns -- began arriving at hospitals in New York
    > City about an hour after the two planes slammed into the twin
    > towers, witnesses said Tuesday.
    >
    > "Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe," said Dr. Steven
    > Stern at St. Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village
    > neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
    >
    > About 50 or 60 doctors and nurses were standing in scrubs and
    > uniforms waiting for the next wave of ambulances to come in. The
    > first wave arrived around 10 a.m. EDT, doctors said.
    >
    > The entire entrance to the emergency room was lined with stretchers
    > covered with white sheets.
    >
    > Doctors said the victims mostly had burns.
    >
    > "So far we've received
    > a few patients, mostly second-degree burns," Dr. Gary Fishman at
    > St. Vincents said. "We are expecting the brunt of the people to
    > arrive soon."
    >
    > Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told New Yorkers to remain in their homes or
    > businesses, unless they are located south of Canal Street. People
    > in the downtown area are advised to head north and clear out the
    > streets.
    >
    > "Remain calm and try to assist in the rescue effort and pray,"
    > Giuliani said. "The main thing is having these streets open so we
    > can move people out of there."
    >
    > Most of the early patients were being sent to New York University's
    > Downtown Hospital and to St. Vincent's.
    >
    > At about 8:45 a.m. EDT, a plane struck one the north tower of the
    > landmark complex in lower Manhattan, and the building was soon
    > engulfed in flames. Moments later a second plane struck the south
    > tower.
    >
    > Both towers of the complex collapsed, the first falling about 75
    > minutes later and the second crashing half an hour after that. The
    > entire south end of Manhattan was engulfed in smoke and airborne
    > debris.
    >
    > "The whole of lower Manhattan is coated in half an inch of dust,"
    > Reuters reporter Daniel Sternoff said.
    >
    > People were fleeing the area in a panic.
    >
    > At St. Vincents, hospital
    > staff appealed for blood donors in the street, Reuters reporter Ian
    > Driscoll said. The line to give blood was over 100 people long.
    >
    > "We expect smoke inhalation, trauma, and burns," Dr. Bernd Reisbeck
    > said. "I expect we will be working non-stop for at least the next
    > 24 hours."
    >
    > At every pay phone, people were lined up a dozen deep to call loved
    > ones, but many ended up hanging up in frustration at the profusion
    > of busy signals. At one pay phone in Greenwich Village, a woman was
    > sobbing into the phone, saying she didn't know whether a loved one
    > was OK.
    >
    > Cell phone service throughout Manhattan was interrupted. Regular
    > phone service was congested, forcing many callers to dial
    > repeatedly to get through. AT&T shut down its entire phone and
    > communications system in Manhattan, according to a spokesman, who
    > declined to give his name.
    >
    > Bridges and tunnels leading also were closed, a Port Authority
    > spokeswoman said, leaving hundreds of trucks and cars stuck as they
    > tried to enter the city.
    >
    > All subway lines stopped running, said Bob Slovak, spokesman for
    > NYC Transit.
    >
    > Rockefeller Center, the complex of offices and shops that is a
    > favorite tourist destination in the heart of the city, was among
    > the buildings where property managers urged tenants to go home.
    >
    > http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/11/nyregion/11CND-NYC.html?ex=1001233630&ei=1&e
    > n=22183bc62b070ffc
    >
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