58° F | Schenectady, NY
Storms wreaks havoc on NYC subway system; city's airports remain closed
NEW YORK — The MTA chairman says the New York City subway system has never in its 108-year history faced a disaster as devastating as that created by the massive storm.
Chairman Joseph Lhota said in a statement that Sandy wreaked havoc on the entire system, “in every borough and county of the region.”
He said the storm ripped out power and inundated tunnels, rail yards and bus depots.
As of Monday night, seven subway tunnels under the East River were flooded. Metro-North lost power from 59th Street to Croton-Harmon on the Hudson Line and to New Haven on the New Haven Line.
The Long Island Rail Road experienced flooding in one East River tunnel.
He said the Hugh Carey Tunnel was flooded from end to end. The Queens Midtown Tunnel is closed
Sewage in river
Westchester County health officials say partially treated sewage has been entering the Hudson River from two plants in Yonkers.
The county asked Con Edison to cut power to the Yonkers Wastewater Treatment Plant at 8:45 p.m. Monday.
The decision was made to protect workers and equipment due to flooding. The plant was being pumped out overnight.
Then, at 10:50 p.m., the North Yonkers station became flooded and its pumps went out of service. That allowed the release of screened raw sewage into the Hudson River.
Airports closed
The major airports serving metropolitan New York City remain closed due to the storm.
Stewart International Airport is open. However, air carriers have suspended operations until further notice.
LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Kennedy remained closed on Tuesday.
Teterboro (TEE’-tur-bur-oh) in New Jersey also is closed.
The JFK and Newark air trains are suspended.
Stewart airport is 55 miles north of New York City.
Eerily dark
The Chelsea and Greenwich Village sections of Manhattan were eerily dark during what’s normally known as the morning rush-hour.
The street lights and traffic lights were not working Monday morning.
Any vehicles on the street mostly belonged to emergency workers.
Debris was scattered along Ninth and Tenth avenues. Newspaper boxes and garbage cans were blown into the street. A big redwood planter that once held trees was lying on a sidewalk in front of restaurant
Some buildings were operating with generators — including the Google offices in Chelsea.
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