Downpour Leaves Commuters Bedraggled
UPDATED: 11:06 am EDT September 9,
2004
NEW YORK -- Commuter horror stories abounded after a downpour crippled the nation's largest transit system and turned Wednesday morning into a soggy ordeal for New Yorkers struggling to get to work.
Slideshows:
New Jersey Flooding
Long Island Flooded
Heavy Rain Soaks Tri-State Area
John Marshall's 5 P.M. Weather Report
Ariel Aviles, a manager with St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, said it took him nearly four hours to get to his office on West 33rd Street in Manhattan. "It was the worst commute ever," said Aviles, who normally arrives at work an hour after leaving his home in Coney Island. "I never had that kind of problem before."
He said the D train went so slowly it took almost an hour to travel one stop -- when it usually takes about two minutes. More than 3 inches of rain fell in Central Park in about three hours on Wednesday. The city subway's 301 pumps, which push out 17 million gallons of water on a normal day, couldn't keep up, a spokeswoman for New York City Transit said. "On a day like this, the ground just gets saturated and it just has nowhere to go," Deirdre Parker said. "It does create flooding problems. When it goes to the track and starts to reach the third rail we have to turn off the power." That meant delays and shutdowns for commuters trying to use the subways, forcing many to try to get on buses or walk. Thousands of commuters streamed across the Brooklyn Bridge by foot as the only way to get into Manhattan. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum called on Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairman Peter Kalikow "to conduct a full, public investigation into of this morning's failure and to devise a plan to ensure it never happens again." Subway service was running normally Thursday morning, according to James Anyansi, a New York City Transit spokesman. The National Weather Service said the rain was indirectly related to Hurricane Frances, because the circulation of that system was helping to bring moisture into the New York area. Rain was expected to continue through the rest of the work week, although not so heavily, before a drying period late Friday. Rainfall totals around the area included 3.76 inches in Central Park, 2.93 inches at John F. Kennedy International Airport, in Queens, 5.88 inches in White Plains and 5.26 inches in Setauket, on Long Island.
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Rain Floods Homes, RoadwaysSlideshows:
New Jersey FloodingLong Island FloodedHeavy Rain Soaks Tri-State AreaJohn Marshall's 5 P.M. Weather ReportAriel Aviles, a manager with St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, said it took him nearly four hours to get to his office on West 33rd Street in Manhattan. "It was the worst commute ever," said Aviles, who normally arrives at work an hour after leaving his home in Coney Island. "I never had that kind of problem before."
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