I work at the electricity company called AmerenUE, so when our lights flicker, you know something has gone wrong. The lights flickered twice yesterday afternoon around 3:15, and when Cindy left at 3:30, someone stopped her and mentioned that there was a fire somewhere to the south of our building so she might have to leave the city a different way. I kind of thought, "Ah, well, I don't leave for an hour so it'll be cleared up by then." I was wrong.
Soon, a woman came rushing past, shouting "Evacuate the building! Evacuate the building!". Despite all my high school experiences with fire alarms (ignoring them) and college dorms with pulled alarms, I figured this might be something important, so I grabbed my purse and left. Once outside, I realized that my phone was still on my desk, but they weren't letting anyone back inside. Also once outside, I started hearing the cracking, rolling explosions, but I didn't immediately recognize them as such. Marlene commented, "Wow. That's either really big trucks running over bumps in the road or those are huge explosions." Looking up to see helicopters hovering, I decided to borrow someone's phone to call a parent to inform them that no, I hadn't burned up in the flames yet.
Rumors started to spread: "Oh, the paint factory has finally blown!" "Construction site nearby hit a gas line." "There's a crematorium and I'm sure they keep lots of chemicals there.." But I think it was Sandi (supervisor) who said that it was the nearby (like less than 1000 yards away) Praxair plant--they distribute compressed gases. Someone commented that the flames and explosions were about 300-400 feet high. I can't confirm that, since I stayed on the north side of the building (sheltered from flying gas cannisters, as it were, since they were being catapulted like half a block) and didn't dare witness in person these huge flames.
After a while, Sandi told me that they weren't going to open the building back up by 4:30 so I might as well just go home. I kind of hesitated because I wanted my phone, but ended up just leaving. I don't know my way around the city very well but fortunately for me, had an atlas in my car, even if the "detail" view of St. Louis does not help a lot. Somehow I managed to get home (18th to Market to 64 West to Kingshighway to Gravois to Germania to 55 North to Loughborough to 55 South, finally), where I sat down and had my mom hug me out of worry (she had gone downtown to try to come get me; she thought that since I didn't have my phone, I didn't have my purse; plus it's every mother's duty to rescue their children from flaming buildings).
We talked a little bit and then went to the Macaroni Grill for dinner (mmm lasagna), and then went to Illinois for some planet-gazing. Apparently Venus and Mercury were supposed to be the smallest degree of separation in 65 years, so we headed out with the telescope to look. Starry Night Backyard also indicated that Saturn would be making up a third point in the planetary triangle, but we couldn't see it even with the telescope.
After that, we went home and hung out with Ty, who had been alone in the house and thought he had heard someone opening doors. We made him eat some cereal and I gave him a math problem involving a tiny wheel to solve. The end.
P.S. I should mention that, miraculously, no one was fatally injured in the explosions.
