WTC layout questions (1 Viewer)

[Glenn Overholt]

Ok, I've never been there, but as I figured, I still have no clue from any TV station as to just how bad it is. They either show it from a mile up or from only ten feet away.
I've heard that the rubble is anywhere from 6 - 8 stories high, but they never mention underground. I saw some diagrams showing the underground parking lot and the mall. Did they get squished too?
At any rate, I have to assume that they didn't because it looks like the rescue workers and the heavy equipment are all over the ground floor plaza (street level). If they can't get into the regular entrances to the underground mall & parking, couldn't they punch a hole in the plaza and get down that way? Do the mall & parking area extend past the adjoining streets? I would think that they would, but I still have no idea.
Also, I heard that one of the towers didn't fall straight down as I thought it had. Which way did it fall?
I hope that these questions aren't too cruel, but after I heard about that one man 'rode' the collapsing tower down for 82 floors, I can easily see others that rode it too, did a 'tuck and roll' and found a fairly safe place to wait for a rescue. Are all 110 floors above the steet level, or did they continue beneath the street level?
I can't be the only person wondering about this, and I hope that someone can lay it all out for me.
Thanks - Glenn

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Well I have to say that I really hold out hope that they might find more people alive down their, but my realist side says I don't think they will unfortunatly.

I mean these poor people had 110 stories of steel, concrete, and glass come down right on top of them. My guess is that these buildings were so tall that when they fell straight down, they probably came down and filled any opening that may have been beneath them with wreckage. How anyone can survive under all that mess is staggering! I fear the worst though.

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"How can I heal, when I can't feel time?"
Leonard from Memento

 

[Don Black]

From what I've read, the buildings collapsed as they were suppose to: straight down. Unfortunately, thousands of people were killed as they tried to evacuate the buildings. However, the casualty numbers would have been much higher had the buildings toppled over onto their sides (thereby crushing other buildings).
I also read that the basement floors have in fact caved and that's where a lot of the debris is .. underground.
However, I might be wrong... can anyone back me up? I think I read it at CNN.com.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I heard on Fox today that they found a group of bodies in a hug. So sick! I also saw Dan Rather on Letterman crying. This is going to be a tough one! Hang in there!
Glenn

 

[Cees Alons]

May I urge everyone to show as much restraint as possible? I understand some people want to talk about the terrible things on their mind. But, please, post like this: imagine you're someone having relatives associated to any of the disaster sites, and then read your post again to see if the content, or the wording, might be unneccessary painful, in which case, don't post it like that.
Thank you all for being considerate.
Cees
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[Edited last by Cees Alons on September 19, 2001 at 02:40 AM]

 

[Michael Reuben]

To answer the original question:
Several of the subway tunnels below the WTC, and at least one station, are reported to have collapsed. All of these are below the mall. Much of the mall itself was on the same elevation as the lower lobbies of the twin towers. While it's possible that parts of the mall remain accessible (perhaps at the far west end of the complex), it's very unlikely.
I can't comment on the parking garage, having never been in there.
M.

 

[Larry Price]

Just factual info here, from a WTC office resident for the last 8 years.
The video Ive seen of the parts of the underground mall (1 level of 6 that were below ground) showed just parts of the Tourneau Store and the characters from the Warner Bros store window. I also noticed what I thought was the J. Crew store. All the chain stores you could think of existed in that mall.
What was shown is maybe 1/50th of the # of stores and area of the underground mall.
The plaza between the buildings outside ( above the mall ) was a huge outdoor plaza with a fountain in the middle, in which every day this summer and the past summers concerts were held lunchtime and nighttime of country/jazz/R&B/and classical music. Hundreds , if not thousands, of people viewed these concerts daily.
The underground parking garage was closed to public parking after the bombing of the WTC in 1993. The only entrances (for store deliveries/office supplies/etc.) to that (as of 9/10 - the day before) were
(a) behind 7 WTC, the building I worked in
(b) in the middle lane of the West Side Highway.
Construction was just about finished on the lower part of the West Side Highway, which enabled all tourists/residents/etc. to travel uninterrupted on a bicycle path from Battery Park to the Upper West Side. That had taken 3 or 4 years to complete.
Going tonite to the house of a friend/coworker whose son worked for Cantor & Fitzgerald on the 103rd floor. Not a memorial service or funeral, just going there to be there.

 

[Lisel]

Here's an interesting article from Yahoo, entitled "Danger Looms Beneath the Trade Center."
I wondered about the mall and the subway station (and the Borders bookstore) too. Before I moved in the spring I commuted from Jersey to work not far from the Trade Center, on Maiden Lane.
Lisel
[Edited last by Lisel on September 20, 2001 at 08:38 AM]

 

[Mike Main]

Well im at 140 broadway its a building with the big orange cube across the street (if u have been to the WTC).
Let me tell u from my unfortunate front row seat---its bad--
Theres still some of the outside structure that stands about 10-12 stories tall. Giant cranes everywhere-- When I come into work by ferry-- we pass the barges that are being used to remove the debris from manhattan.
Since Tuesday the smoke has lessened although this morning there was an active fire (thick black smoke)
Alot of the debris fell north and west (West side Highway) but looking out on Broadway the scene is surreal.
Mike

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[Michael Reuben]

Apparently some of the underground stores remain accessible -- and they were looted. There's an article in today's (9/21) New York Times, accompanied by some particularly eerie photographs (especially if you've been in the stores, as I was the week before the attack).
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/21/nyregion/21TOMB.html
(The pictures are available under the "Multimedia" section.)
M.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Looted? By whom? And when? That's scary.
Mike - I take it that your building is in no danger of falling. Yeah, I know that you're a block east of Church, but my worst nightmare right now would be having the basement walls of WTC collapsing and letting the Hudson in.
Glenn