Tempers fray as flooding halts subway lines
Every subway line coming into Manhattan was affected by flooding after a severe storm before dawn ripped roofs off houses, caused power outages and triggered tornado warnings.
“Riders are stunned that the system is so vulnerable to rain,” said Gene Russianoff, a spokesman for The Straphangers’ Campaign, a transit advocacy group. “It’s not like we live in the Gobi Desert.”
None of the city’s subway lines was running at full capacity during the morning rush and several were shut down completely, New York State’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Paul Fleuranges told local TV news.
Many people chose to work at home after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority urged New Yorkers to delay their travel until service was restored.
Tempers frayed and sweat stains spread as commuters packed onto overheated subway platforms hoping to catch a train, while above ground buses and taxis filled to capacity.
“I’m kind of calm, but people start to shout,” said Raminta Sickute who had been travelling for more than two hours to her job on Wall Street.
Flights from New York’s La Guardia Airport were experiencing average delays of more than an hour.
Hundreds of people were gathered at bus stops in Times Square, where the sidewalks were even more crowded than usual.
“The infrastructure in New York is just getting so old. Some of the subways were built in 1904,” said Fran Valerio, who was stuck between stations on a steamy subway. She said she had noticed more frequent weather disruptions in recent years.
“It’s just like that steam pipe explosion,” she added, referring to the explosion last month of an 83-year-old steam pipe in midtown Manhattan that killed one person and injured about 20 others.
Mr Russianoff said the city’s transport authority undoubtedly needed to fund infrastructure improvements.
He blamed the increase in weather-related subway service problems on the combination of increasingly extreme weather and a system hobbled by age.
“The [authority] is dealing with more frequent harsh weather but the handwriting is on the wall,” he said. “This is not going to go away. They’re not blind to it, but they’re sort of overwhelmed.”
The Metropolitan Transit Authority could not be reached for comment.
