EVACUATION

Thousands wait to visit homes

Many are anxious about their pets with no food, water

By Tina Cassidy and David Abel, Globe Staff, 9/14/2001

EW YORK - Residents who were jolted from their homes by the terrorist assault on the World Trade Center towers Tuesday have spent the days since then begging for information on when they will be allowed back into their apartments to fetch clothes, medicine, passports, cars, and, most urgently, pets.

''She's a golden retriever, and she's 4 years old, and she hasn't had food or water since yesterday,'' a tearful Brandee Dalow told a park ranger who was taking names and addresses of people with pets or other vital things left behind. Dalow, 27, lives in Gateway Plaza, directly across the street from the World Trade Center, leaving her to wonder whether she still has a home, let alone a dog.

A huge swath of the city, essentially everything south of 14th street, was evacuated after the attacks. In the area between 14th and Canal streets, only residents have been allowed to return. But no one has been allowed to return to the district south of Canal, most of which is still without water, electricity, gas, or telephone service. Authorities want to check each building for structural soundness before letting residents back in.

Yesterday the area remained unstable. The 51-story American Express tower, now used as a morgue and triage area, gave signs of buckling. Officials feared it might collapse, just as the World Trade Center's Building 9 did Tuesday night.

Those who fled Tuesday had little time to think about what to take with them.

''I just grabbed my baby and left,'' said Christine Solomone, who had no clothes or money and was seeking permission, unsuccessfully, to go back to her apartment. ''By the time we hit the street, everybody started running.''

Some people never left, despite living just blocks from the World Trade Center. They have been in basic survival mode, hunting for milk and bread by candlelight at the few corner grocers that have remained open and using flashlights to make their way through pitch-black stairwells in highrises where the elevators have been out of service.

''It's really sad New Yorkers have been reduced to this,'' said Debbie Melendez, a 35-year-old who lives on Harrison Street, a few blocks from the twin towers. ''I felt it. I saw it. I heard it. I smelled it. This is no way to live.''

This story ran on page A37 of the Boston Globe on 9/14/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.