I went to bed unaware of any drama, but I got a call from a friend around midnight, telling me that they were evacuating parts of Apex and to turn on the news. At first there weren't many details, but finally they posted the address of the warehouse that exploded. When I entered it on Google, I saw that it was about a mile west of my apartment! They kept showing an evacuation zone shaded red, and I was just outside the south end of it, but at the same time they said to leave if you're within a mile radius of the warehouse. And since we were dealing with a toxic gas cloud that knows no boundaries, and the possibility of shifting winds due to an approaching storm, I decided to go to my parents' house. We stayed up until about 2 am watching the news, and when I went to bed I couldn't fall asleep for a long time.
The next morning I woke up and checked the news online to see what the status was. I had several trainings scheduled at work that day, so I decided I should go in. Of course, I was going to be late, so I had to reschedule the first training, and have my coworker do the second one. And then my other two cancelled on me right before their appointments! Oh well, at least I didn't use any of my paid time off.
On the way home, my usual freeway offramp was blocked, so I tried surface streets, but that way was blocked too. I asked the officer guarding the street when it might open, and he said he didn't know. Then he asked me where I was going. I told him the name of my apartment complex and he said, "Sure, you can go there." And I was like, "How? There are cones." He said kind of sarcastically, "Do you see the spot in front of my car with no cones?" As if I was supposed to know to just drive right through his roadblock! Anyway, I said thank you and went through. When I drove into the complex, I saw tons of cars, so it wasn't like it was deserted or something.
On the way to my massage appointment this morning there were still a few streets blocked but most of them were reopened. Now we just have to worry about whether the water is contaminated from the runoff. I tell you, something's gotta give, because a) I bet no one had any idea that toxic chemicals were being housed practically in their backyards, and b) the company had been cited multiple times in March for safety violations. Gosh, it makes you wonder about all the other stuff that we go around living our lives blissfully ignorant of.
Melissa - so relieved to hear you are okay. But it really makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it?
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