The power went out just after I posted the previous entry from a TMobile hotspot in Starbucks across from City Hall in New York. I went outside and lots of people were coming out of their buildings.
I had planned to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to take some photos anyway, so I joined the crowd and headed that way, assuming at that time that only a few blocks downtown were out.
There was a steady flow of people walking over towards Brooklyn and I heard that the subways were out. I got to the Brooklyn side and headed back towards Manhattan. The crowd flowing out from the city was much larger now and growing, and I looked down to the traffic lanes below and saw that they were also filling up with people walking east.
I could also see a few helicopters hovering over the river. When I stopped to look up I could feel that the bridge was swaying noticeably, which made me a little apprehensive. I could also see smoke coming from a building on the Lower East side. I took my bridge photos and walked, against the tide, towards the city.
I later heard that the smoke came from a power station, and that the fire was minor.
Lots of people were milling in the streets, and almost everyone had a phone in their hand. People seemed frustrated with their cellphones. My fancy new GSM phone lost it's signal about this time.
With traffic lights out, pedestrians took over the streets and gridlocked the intersections.
This guy tried to organize things, but it was hopeless.
I walked over to Broadway and started North. Thousands were in the streets, and people were talking about power being out across the country. People were talking about terrorism, but no one really knew what was happening.
I had to catch a Metro North train to New Haven, where I had parked my car, and walking looked to be the only way to get to Grand Central Station.
Most people seemed to be going south towards the bridge. The rest of us managed to struggle through the stopped traffic and the flow of people going the other way.
At the Federal Building, security seemed a little edgy.
Actually, everyone seemed a little edgy.
It was very hot. The heat was rising from the street and the exertion of walking tended made it seem even hotter.
It was hot for us on the street, but I can't imagine what it was like for those stuck in elevators, or in subway cars. Some of the people down in the subway were being pulled up a ladder through a street hatch at 3rd Street. This guy looks happy to be coming out of the tunnel.
Street corner vendors were doing a brisk business in water ($2 a bottle, warm and worth every penny) and someone opened a hydrant at 4th and Broadway.
People refilled their water bottles from the hydrant and splashed their faces.
For some reason, this group was sitting in the closed Citibank window. I asked them if they were trapped, but the said no.
Despite the heat, some people were more composed than others.
Higher up on Broadway, near Union Square, the crowd thinned out a little bit, but there were still more people than cars, and without signals, what cars there were found it hard to get around without a little help. It made more sense to direct foot traffic than the cars.
The park served as a good way station for weary feet.
At Broadway and 14th, these two guys were enjoying the parade of hot stranded pedestrians. And they rubbed it in a little by holding a sign, "If you lived here, you'd be home already."
I finally made it back to Bryant Park, where people were settling in. No trains were leaving from Grand Central. I was weighing my options, but the park, just a few blocks from the train station, seemed as good a place as anywhere to spend the night.
I fired up the laptop to type some notes and upload some photos from the camera, and I found amazingly, that the Verizon wi-fi network was up. I sent an email to my father and asked him to call my wife and give her an update. I also posted some updates.
Other people in the park also used my Powerbook to send email look up relatives' addresses in the city for a place to stay.
Kudos to Verizon.
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