REMEMBERING 9/11

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in history and a new docuseries is celebrating the stories of those who survived

- KIM ABRAHAMS

AT TIMES she can still feel the ground buckle and roll beneath her feet.

The only way she can describe it, she says, is if you close your eyes and imagine you’re standing on the biggest roller coaster you’ve ever been on – a terrifying one where death and destruction await at every twist and turn.

Kathy Comerford is a survivor of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, and one of the people featured in a new six-part National Geographic documentary to mark the 20th anniversary of America’s darkest day.

The series, 9/11: One Day in America, tells the stories of survivors and first responders who rushed to the burning towers on that perfect autumn morning.

Kathy speaks to YOU via Zoom from New York shortly before the show airs, reliving a day that will haunt her forever.

“There wasn’t a cloud in the sky that morning,” she says. “It was crystal clear. And things just went right. The train was on time, everything just fell into place. There was no signal or feeling of doom.”

Kathy, who was head of events for investment banking company Morgan Stanley, had a doctor’s appointment but canceled it at the last minute because of a staff meeting. She was in her office on the 44th floor of the South Tower when the plane struck between the 77th and 85th floors.

“I was blown out of my shoes and I hit the marble wall in front of me with my upper body.”

It took her a split second to gather her thoughts. “And then my strong will kicked in.

“I was like, ‘Oh, no way. I am not orphaning my kids. I am getting out of here.”

She and hundreds of others rushed down the stairwell.