https://www.khou.com/article/news/nation-world/houston-leader-tel-aviv-israel-missile-attack/285-eb4ca34f-ccbf-40c3-80ce-c429f5784242

Houston leader trapped in Israel due to air strikes

TEL AVIV, Israel — As missiles lit up the skies over Tel Aviv amid an escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, a Houston community leader was forced to take shelter overnight.

Tammi Wallace, president and co-founder of the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, was in Israel as part of a North American LGBTQ+ delegation learning about the country's Pride community when the violence erupted.

The attack unfolded Sunday night. Wallace received an alert from an Israeli government app warning of incoming missile fire. With just 90 seconds to spare, she rushed to find shelter in a nearby hotel parking garage.

“We have a remarkable team helping us, but when you have to sleep in your clothes and have a go bag ready and [you're] hearing alerts go off in the night, it’s terrifying,” Wallace said.

The danger was close.

“We were down there for about five minutes, and we felt a loud boom, and a missile had exploded behind the hotel a couple of blocks away,” she said.

The blast shook the parking garage. Wallace said that when she felt the explosion, she feared it might be the end.

“We’ve heard the sirens, and we’ve heard a few things go off,” she said. “But not an explosion and not that close — where the parking garage was basically vibrating.”

So, what’s next for Wallace and the delegation?

She said the group remains in Israel under the oversight of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which is working on evacuation plans.

“We’re guests of the Israeli government, of course, more specifically the Foreign Ministry, [which] is working on evacuation planning to get us out of the country,” Wallace said.

For now, she remains far from home — a Houstonian caught in the middle of a war zone as tensions continue to rise.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5739187&forum_id=2...id.#49023953)

What is there to learn? Serious Q.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5739187&forum_id=2...id.#49024070)