Deluge cripples New York transport system

A torrential downpour sent water surging through New York’s tube system, highway tunnels and across airport runways, leaving thousands stranded and one big question: How could 3ins of rain bring the country’s largest transport system to a halt?

The storm, which also spawned a tornado, hit just before dawn yesterday. By rush hour, the tube system was virtually paralysed when pumping stations became overwhelmed. Bedlam resulted from too much rain, too fast, with some commuters spending a half day just getting to work.

“One big rain and it all falls apart,” said Ruby Russel, 64, as she sat waiting on a train in Brooklyn.

She said she had been trying to get to Manhattan for three hours.

The failure renewed a debate about whether the network of pumps, sewers and drains that protects the city’s tube network from flooding needs an overhaul.

Every line experienced some sort of delay as track beds turned into streams gurgling with millions of gallons of rainwater. The washout was the third time in seven months that the network was disrupted by rain.

Metropolitan Transit Authority engineers were asked to report back to New York governor Eliot Spitzer within 30 days with suggestions about how to deal with the chronic flooding.

“We have a design issue that we need to think about,” Spitzer said.

The National Weather Service said a tropical air mass dumped an extraordinary amount of rain in a short period of time. The worst was recorded between 5am and 8am, with 2.5ins falling on Central Park and almost 3.5ins on Kennedy International Airport.

The stormwater sought the low ground and that meant the tube. Water poured in through vents, drowned the signal system and flooded the third rail, forcing a shut-off of power on some lines.

MTA executive director Elliot Sander said the intensity of the rain was simply overwhelming. The drainage system can generally handle a maximum of 1.5ins of rainfall an hour.

“The timing and intensity of the storm took us by surprise,” Sander said.

The problems come as weather experts predict New York is due for a major hurricane. A storm with 130mph winds and a 30ft storm surge could cause the Hudson and East rivers to overflow – and bring with it more significant flooding than a severe rainstorm.