Where were you when Pearl Harbor was attacked? When JFK was shot? On Sept. 11? These are the questions that define generations, events that forever changed the lives of survivors.

 

For residents of Austin, Feb. 18 marks another tragedy that will remain with them long after the rubble clears. Thursday morning Joseph Stack flew a plane into a building housing an IRS office. Stack and IRS employee Vernon Hunter died that day, but hundreds were effected by the bizarre tragedy, among them Hannah Day.

 

Day is a 2003 graduate of Princeton High School. Two years ago she moved to Austin to work as an account manager for cbanc Network. Her office is next door to the seven-story building that was hit Thursday. And long before citizens across the country heard about or saw the attack on the news, Day was experiencing it firsthand.

 

“I was at my desk on a call with a customer when the plane hit,” Day said. “The building the plane hit is directly next to mine.

“We heard a loud explosion, and our entire building shook pretty violently. I immediately hung up the phone and ran out into the main hallway,” she said.

 

“As my building continued to shake violently, I recalled Haiti and wondered if I could be in some sort of natural disaster. I remember thinking that my building was going to buckle and go down and thought ‘well, this is it.’”

 

“I first thought one of the large generators on the roof of our building had exploded but as the building continued to shake I stopped wondering what had happened and focused on how to get out quickly.”

 

Day then began evacuating her office. Before heading to the stairs herself, she stopped to get her boss. “I ran into his office and told him to get off the phone as we were evacuating immediately. My cousin also works near me, so I then ran over to find her and luckily she was in sight. I opened the door and turned to head down the staircase.”

 

Day and another manager were the first ones to reach the staircase on her side of the building. “I remember looking up and seeing the line of co-workers behind me and yelling up for someone to ensure our sister company on the other side of the building knew to evacuate,” Day said.

 

“Only when running down the staircase did I remember that the building next to us housed some IRS offices, and so I concluded it was a bomb.”

 

Later, Day along with the rest of the nation, would discover the shake she felt was actually caused by a plane crash.

 

“We evacuated the building immediately and moved far away from it. In the event that it was a bomb we didn’t want to be nearby if another bomb exploded.”

 

“The thought never crossed my mind that it could have been an airplane. You definitely don’t go to work in the morning wondering if a plane will fly into your building or surrounding buildings here in Austin,” she said. 

 

Despite the initial shock, Day said she was impressed by how well her co-workers handled the situation. “We evacuated quickly and efficiently without incident,” she said.

 

After safely exiting to a nearby street, Day and her co-workers watched as emergency crews arrived. “I was highly impressed with how quickly Austin emergency response arrived on the scene. We had no sooner evacuated and crossed the parking lot to safety when every emergency response vehicle available was on scene.”

 

While watching from a safe distance, Day’s concerns shifted to her sister Louisa, who works across the highway. Day said she knew Louisa would have seen the smoke and been worried.

 

After making a call to her sister, Day then fielded several calls from concerned friends and family. “Once it hit the local and national news, I was flooded with calls and Facebook posts inquiring about my safety. Actually, Sandra Hague from the high school called and said ‘Hannah I saw what happened on the news and remembered you live in Austin …you weren’t anywhere near that were you?’

 

“She was shocked and relieved I was safe when I told her how close I was to it.”

 

Though Day’s company was allowed to return to work Feb. 22, Day said life has not gone back to the way it was before.

 

“This week remains difficult as it is hard to watch the news coverage, hard to look at the devastation from the building next to me anytime I look out a window, and also difficult as news helicopters continue to hover overhead and our building continues to shake from time to time.

 

“We at the office are all a little sensitive to loud noises, especially that of helicopters and planes,” she said.

 

“I have been pretty shaken up by the entire event,” Day said. “It was an incredibly horrible feeling to watch this building go up in flames knowing there were people trapped and worse, losing their life as I watched seemingly helpless.”

 

Still, Day said she found comfort amidst the chaos that day. “I called on the Lord who has power over all things and asked Him to come to the rescue of those trapped and suffering and aide the emergency workers to quickly recover all victims. The Lord was very faithful in answering my cry for help,” she said.

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