Yesterday evening Susan, our older son Michael and I had just returned from dinner at a nearby restaurant when we heard a very loud boom and it felt like the windows and floor briefly shook. My immediate thought was that this was an explosion. The sound of sirens shortly thereafter confirmed that something bad had happened.
I quickly checked Twitter and searched for “explosion” – there were many other people from our neighborhood on Twitter already asking questions. I then stepped out into the street and saw a lot of people looking around. All I had to do was go to the corner of 22nd (where we live) and 7th Avenue to see that the activity was concentrated around 23rd and 7th. I saw a neighbor and asked what had happened. He told me that it was an explosion on 23rd between 7th and 6th Avenues. I then called two of our children who were out in the city to make sure they were OK and alert them to what had happened.
Here is a clip from the NY Times that combines some footage from bystanders and security cameras:
Before going to bed I made sure our two kids who were out were back safely and also sent a note to my parents in Germany to let them know we were OK – I assumed they would get the news their time in the morning and be concerned. I woke up to a ton of text and email inquiries from friends asking if we were safe. Thanks everyone for checking!
I don’t know anything other than what has been reported. As of 3pm this afternoon 23rd Street was still closed between 6th and 7th Avenues and the police had very carefully marked each fragment on the road. It will be interesting to see what their investigation reveals.
