September 11^th, 2001 (12:00am) -

The World Trade Center lies in ruins New York City and Washington, D.C. were rocked Tuesday morning by a series of explosions, forcing building evacuations, effectively shutting down both cities and suspending domestic flights at all the nation&
In a tragic and spectacular explosion that engulfed lower Manhattan in thick smoke and gray powder debris, two airplanes crashed the World Trade Center in New York City at around 9 a.m. EST. The planes were both American Airlines commercial jets bound for the West Coast, one coming out of Boston and one out of Washington, D.C. The planes were reportedly hijacked and flown off-course to New York. Television networks showed extraordinary images of smoke billowing from the twin towers as well as footage of a second plane flying directly into the center of one of the buildings. At 10 a.m. EST, the southern tower of the World Trade Center was enveloped in smoke after a second, gigantic explosion. Reports indicate a part of that tower collapsed and was destroyed. About twenty minutes later, the northern tower imploded.

In Washington, a plane has apparently crashed into the Pentagon office building, which has been evacuated. Part of the building reportedly collapsed at 11 a.m. EST. A fire was also reported on the Mall; the White House, Capitol and other government buildings have also been evacuated. At 10:30 a.m. EST, the Associated Press reported a car bomb had exploded at the State Department.