When I read this story, I could only imagine how crazed the people trapped in the Gateway Arch
must have been.
I was there in 1985 when I drove across the country on my move to California. I tried to see as many major sites and scenes along the was as I could. I was at the Arch during a July thunderstorm and that was freaky enough. There is an observatory at the top center. It reminded me of being in an airplane...about the same width and height and the viewing windows are like those on a plane. One difference is that the floor is curved — higher in the center as it follows the structure of the Arch.
To get to the top, you have to ride in an elevator up through the side of the arch. How, you might ask, does an elevator work on a curve? As I recall, it's kinda like being on a ferris wheel only not as smooth. The carriage/tram full of people moves up and then the bottom swings over every so often. It is very claustrophobic on a good day. Being trapped in one for hours would have me, who isn't really afraid of confined spaces, crawling the walls!
AP story via Yahoo! News:
"About 200 people were trapped inside the 630-foot Gateway Arch for about two hours after an apparent power outage, authorities said.*
The power went out around 8:45 p.m. Saturday, stalling two trams filled with about 40 people each, said Mike Maris, deputy superintendent of the Gateway Arch.
About 100 other people were stranded at the top of the monument of stainless steel, Maris said. He said the evacuation of the south tram, where one of nine cables may have broken, took about two hours.
Power eventually was restored to the north tram, and stranded visitors no longer had to use the stairs to evacuate..."
1 comment:
yeah- I SO would have taken the stairs. No problem.
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