Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Subway Flooding!

What a wretched day! I was woken up this morning by the scariest thunderstorm I've ever heard. It was over by the time I walked to the subway, but it was about 100 degrees and 100% humidity, and I was immediately worried when I saw how many people were waiting for the train. After a while, it became obvious that nothing was going to come, so they told everyone to leave and try to take a bus. I just went home instead!
I hung out for a while until it seemed like things were starting to run again. I should have just worked from home-- although I had some meetings to attend today, I can easily do a lot of my job remotely. However, I decided to try the subway again. It took me almost 2 hours, but I eventually got to work. I'm so hot and exhausted now, though, that I'm actually wondering if it would be worth the $30+ it would be to take a taxi home!
Flooding in the subways is a scary issue here-- I've been reading a book that was in the news a lot when it came out recently, called The World Without Us. The author describes scenarios of what would happen to our world if human beings suddenly disappeared from the planet. One of the most striking ones is that in New York, without people manning all the systems, the pumps would stop, the subway tunnels would flood, streets and sidewalks would start collapsing, buildings would collapse, etc. until nature just pretty much took over again!
I wonder how much of the MTA's budget goes toward systems and maintenance to prevent flooding... I just tried to see if I could get any info about in on their website, but the site seems to be down, probably overwhelmed by traffic today!

New York City Transit System Is Crippled by Flooding

9 comments:

SavingDiva said...

Goodness! I don't know if I would have been brave enough to ride the subway with the flooding. I probably would have just stayed at home....maybe called in sick...

frugal zeitgeist said...

I never made it to work today. I was on the last train on my line to make it to Times Square (after sitting between Times Square and 50th for half an hour). New Jersey Transit buses weren't running at all, so I headed home. There were no subways by that point, so I walked for 40 blocks and then managed to squeeze on a crowded bus for the rest of the trip.

Anonymous said...

You are braver than I am. I never went into work either. Now that it's ten to five pm, I'm glad. It would be a heluva commute to get back home,too!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like The Day After Tomorrow!

I always think there's so much pressure to get to the office no matter what. Last year we experienced a massive power failure through the city and we were still expected to remain at work, with no lights, no computers... ridiculous.

Screaming Dime said...

I barely made it, and I didn't even attempt to get in until after lunch. What a mess!

Caitlin said...

I really hope you sprung for the taxi. splurge now and then my friend ;)

Unknown said...

Interesting post. I could literally not get out of my building this morning due to all the water until after 8AM. It then took me over 2 hours as well creeping along on the LIRR........but yeah, I've never actually thought about all those people "behind the scenes" in NYC keeping things going. The storm also made me re-evaluate wanting to become a homeowner eventually in this area because of how quickly the flooding came. Now imagine if that was a hurricane!

Anonymous said...

I managed to get a bus to work. My co workers and I talked about how we all came even though most of us could have easily worked from home. We were afraid of looking bad.

Tired of being broke said...

I did not have to work that day. However, from my past experiences as soon as the subway floods things go bad fast. I always opt to stay home. The next day when things go back to normal I would go in early and stay late to make up. I am not too fond of being stuck on the subway for hours.