Thursday, 23 August 2007
Tornado watch
A bit of excitement in the office this afternoon as the tannoy burst into life accompanying sirens as we were told to leave our desks, move away from windows and walls and huddle in the core of the building as downtown Chicago was put under Tornado watch.
Leading up to this I was sat in my office as the partitioned walls creaked and groaned around me. Out of the window the rain sheeted down and lightning lit the dark sky. It was quite a sight.
For about half an hour we stood together in the middle of the floor as people cracked jokes and checked for service on their mobile phones, whilst our 83-story building (the 14th biggest in the world) got lashed around by 80-mile-an-hour winds.
Eventually our safety man broke the chatter and told us we could go back to work. Damn spoilsport.
Looking at the news elsewhere this afternoon in Chicago buildings collapsed, trees were uprooted, the air-traffic control tower at O'Hare was evacuated and funnel clouds were spotted. (more)
Don't think I'll be playing football tonight somehow. ¶ 19:21
Leading up to this I was sat in my office as the partitioned walls creaked and groaned around me. Out of the window the rain sheeted down and lightning lit the dark sky. It was quite a sight.
For about half an hour we stood together in the middle of the floor as people cracked jokes and checked for service on their mobile phones, whilst our 83-story building (the 14th biggest in the world) got lashed around by 80-mile-an-hour winds.
Eventually our safety man broke the chatter and told us we could go back to work. Damn spoilsport.
Looking at the news elsewhere this afternoon in Chicago buildings collapsed, trees were uprooted, the air-traffic control tower at O'Hare was evacuated and funnel clouds were spotted. (more)
Don't think I'll be playing football tonight somehow. ¶ 19:21
