Not just another day at work...

Yesterday started out about as normal as any other day at US Airways Club. I got to work at 4:45 and I'm scheduled to work til 10:15.

The weather was fine. Around 8:30 we it looked like there was some distant lightning. And a passenger asked me if that was going to effect the airplane departures. I told him "No, this time of year we usually get light thunderstorms every night but it's nothing to worry about." I told him that because we had heard that the storm was far away and was going to miss us. After all we had not even seen one drop of rain or wind. All it was was lightning way off in the distance.

Well about an hour went by, the club closes at 10:00 so people were starting to shuffle out. There was a bar tender in the back, I was sitting at the front at my computer as well as my co worker Donna, and there was one member left who was doing something on his lap top under the windows in the middle of the club.

It started to sprinkle a little bit and Donna said "It looks like we might get some rain after all." I wanted to see it so I walked over to where I could see out of the big windows. And it was really coming down by then. The wind was blowing, too. Pretty hard for how fast it started to rain. And I heard a howling sound which was unusual. I said quietly "This is really creepy." "What" Donna asked. And the wind was blowing so hard that it was making the weirdest howling noise and the lights flickered... and I was like "No this is REALLY creepy!"

All of the sudden there was this moment when everything kinda went in slow motion. I had this feeling that something really bad was about to happen and I just had to figure out what it was. My brain was going like a thousand miles an hour but everything else was stoped. I just knew something was about to happen. Just then I saw the guy just sitting there working on his lap top under the window and I said to him calmly "You need to come out from under the window." and he was confused and taking his time getting his computer and gathering his stuff. I screamed! "YOU NEED TO GET OUT FROM UNDER THOSE WINDOWS NOW!" Not with in a second and the entire wall of great big window panels came blasting in! Right on top of where he was sitting! The club is now filled with 90mile an hour winds, and rain, and shards of broken glass and shutters and whatever else was in the club that is being blown around. I felt like i was in wizard of oz. The guy runs for it, I don't know where the bar tender is or if he's hurt, but me and me coworker are under our desks on the phone with emergency. It was like a tornado in there. They told us to get out asap. When we got out the entire airport was being evacuated and was filled with what looked like ash or smoke so I thought the airport was on fire. Turns out the wind had blown all the dust from the vents back into the airport and people were choking on it. But no planes were leaving sky harbor that night, unfortunatly.

Anyway.... the wind didn't last long, as AZ storms usually don't, and thankfully no one got hurt. Every one came away from this with a really exciting story. The US Airways Phoenix Club on the other hand, is destroyed. Demolished. Mother nature had it's way with it.

ah just another day at the office.