BAD BAMA
08-08-2007, 12:48 PM
Storm pounds Long Island, delays commuters
BY JOHN VALENTI | john.valenti@newsday.com
11:41 AM EDT, August 8, 2007
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E-mail Print Single page view Reprints Reader feedback text size: When Linda Dershowitz left home in Manhattan early Wednesday, she had no idea she was headed into the storm that would wreak havoc with the morning commute of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and Long Islanders.
Headed to visit her ailing mother at Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, Dershowitz, 55, would have to weather numerous delays and diversions before reaching Mineola shortly after 10 a.m. -- almost 2 1/2 hours after she had left home.
Standing on the Long Island Rail Road platform at Mineola, where the parking lot was under water and scores of passengers were waiting for trains delayed by flooded tracks, Dershowitz said: "I've used the train system all my life and I've never seen it like this."
Related Links
Fierce winds wreaks havoc in Brooklyn
August storm hits LI Photos
Traffic alerts
Live: Forecast
Web link: LIRR updates
Web link: LIPA Outage Updates
Check airline flights
Airport delays
The thunderstorms that besieged the New York-metro area Wednesday, dropping several inches of rain and battering scattered areas with high, gusting winds, caused systemwide delays on the LIRR and the New York City Transit system, brought the tri-state airports to a standstill, flooded most major roads and caused massive traffic jams and delays throughout the area.
The New York State Department of Transportation reported flooding on sections of the Long Island Expressway, Northern State Parkway, Southern State Parkway, Meadowbrook Parkway, Wantagh Parkway, Cross Island Parkway, Grand Central Parkway and the Jackie Robinson Expressway.
Nassau County Police reported flooded intersections in Valley Stream, Bethpage, Levittown and Massapequa.
The Federal Aviation Adminstration reported flight delays of up to 90 minutes at Kennedy Airport, with long delays at LaGuardia, Long Island-MacArthur and Newark-Liberty.
A spokesman for the New York City Transit system, which lost partial service on the R train, had to close down the 42nd Street Shuttle between Times Square and Grand Central Terminal and suffered systemwide weather-related delays that affected nearly every subway line, even went so far as to advise commuters to "stay home" during an interview Wednesday.
"There is no subway line right now that is running its full normal route," spokesman Paul Fleuranges said in the midst of the storm. "If you are at home -- and you haven't left -- don't. If people in any way, shape or form can stay home, they should. I know it's kind of an odd message to give people . . . But today we had a real problem with water."
One Brooklyn woman, Janie Groff, 50, a social worker from Bay Ridge, said the storm-related subway delays made her decide to ride her bike to her job at the Hamilton-Madison House near the South Street Seaport in Manhattan.
"I went to the subway at 86th Street," Groff said. It was there she learned about the massive delays. "Right then, I decided to take the bike."
By 11 a.m., most of the area -- and, most of the transit systems -- were recovering. But the National Weather Service has issued a "heat alert" for the remainder of the day, forecasters predicting temperatures soaring near the century mark -- 100 degrees -- and bringing with them oppressive humidity that could trigger other storms later in the afternoon.
Certainly, the early-morning storm caused massive problems for the Long Island Rail Road, causing the suspension of all service on the Port Washington Branch due to flooding in Bayside and causing long delays on the main line due to flooding east of Mineola.
Dershowitz said it was "a mob scene" at the bus stop at 86th and Lexington when she first headed to Mineola at 7:45 a.m. -- in the eye of the storm. She took the bus to Penn Station, where outside water covered her shoes and where, inside, commuters were yelling: "There's no subway trains."
"People were animals," Dershowitz said of the scene.
She said police had to clear a path to the LIRR platform, where she caught a train to Mineola -- reaching her destination almost 2 1/2 hours after she first caught the bus.
"I don't think I'm going back home," Dershowitz said, saying she might stay the night at her parents' home in West Hempstead -- concerned that additional storms and high temperatures might create nightmare travel conditions during the evening rush hour.
Repent ye sinners
BY JOHN VALENTI | john.valenti@newsday.com
11:41 AM EDT, August 8, 2007
Article Tools
E-mail Print Single page view Reprints Reader feedback text size: When Linda Dershowitz left home in Manhattan early Wednesday, she had no idea she was headed into the storm that would wreak havoc with the morning commute of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and Long Islanders.
Headed to visit her ailing mother at Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, Dershowitz, 55, would have to weather numerous delays and diversions before reaching Mineola shortly after 10 a.m. -- almost 2 1/2 hours after she had left home.
Standing on the Long Island Rail Road platform at Mineola, where the parking lot was under water and scores of passengers were waiting for trains delayed by flooded tracks, Dershowitz said: "I've used the train system all my life and I've never seen it like this."
Related Links
Fierce winds wreaks havoc in Brooklyn
August storm hits LI Photos
Traffic alerts
Live: Forecast
Web link: LIRR updates
Web link: LIPA Outage Updates
Check airline flights
Airport delays
The thunderstorms that besieged the New York-metro area Wednesday, dropping several inches of rain and battering scattered areas with high, gusting winds, caused systemwide delays on the LIRR and the New York City Transit system, brought the tri-state airports to a standstill, flooded most major roads and caused massive traffic jams and delays throughout the area.
The New York State Department of Transportation reported flooding on sections of the Long Island Expressway, Northern State Parkway, Southern State Parkway, Meadowbrook Parkway, Wantagh Parkway, Cross Island Parkway, Grand Central Parkway and the Jackie Robinson Expressway.
Nassau County Police reported flooded intersections in Valley Stream, Bethpage, Levittown and Massapequa.
The Federal Aviation Adminstration reported flight delays of up to 90 minutes at Kennedy Airport, with long delays at LaGuardia, Long Island-MacArthur and Newark-Liberty.
A spokesman for the New York City Transit system, which lost partial service on the R train, had to close down the 42nd Street Shuttle between Times Square and Grand Central Terminal and suffered systemwide weather-related delays that affected nearly every subway line, even went so far as to advise commuters to "stay home" during an interview Wednesday.
"There is no subway line right now that is running its full normal route," spokesman Paul Fleuranges said in the midst of the storm. "If you are at home -- and you haven't left -- don't. If people in any way, shape or form can stay home, they should. I know it's kind of an odd message to give people . . . But today we had a real problem with water."
One Brooklyn woman, Janie Groff, 50, a social worker from Bay Ridge, said the storm-related subway delays made her decide to ride her bike to her job at the Hamilton-Madison House near the South Street Seaport in Manhattan.
"I went to the subway at 86th Street," Groff said. It was there she learned about the massive delays. "Right then, I decided to take the bike."
By 11 a.m., most of the area -- and, most of the transit systems -- were recovering. But the National Weather Service has issued a "heat alert" for the remainder of the day, forecasters predicting temperatures soaring near the century mark -- 100 degrees -- and bringing with them oppressive humidity that could trigger other storms later in the afternoon.
Certainly, the early-morning storm caused massive problems for the Long Island Rail Road, causing the suspension of all service on the Port Washington Branch due to flooding in Bayside and causing long delays on the main line due to flooding east of Mineola.
Dershowitz said it was "a mob scene" at the bus stop at 86th and Lexington when she first headed to Mineola at 7:45 a.m. -- in the eye of the storm. She took the bus to Penn Station, where outside water covered her shoes and where, inside, commuters were yelling: "There's no subway trains."
"People were animals," Dershowitz said of the scene.
She said police had to clear a path to the LIRR platform, where she caught a train to Mineola -- reaching her destination almost 2 1/2 hours after she first caught the bus.
"I don't think I'm going back home," Dershowitz said, saying she might stay the night at her parents' home in West Hempstead -- concerned that additional storms and high temperatures might create nightmare travel conditions during the evening rush hour.
Repent ye sinners