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The remnants of Hurricane Ida, which triggered flash floods that killed at least 22 people in New York and New Jersey on Wednesday night, exposed vulnerabilities in New York City’s infrastructure to the type of extreme weather conditions generated by climate change.
“We really need to work with our friends in the city government to make sure the street level drainage is a little more at full capacity so that we don’t have, in these new flood-era situations in the era of the climate change, so many to come on the subway, “Janno Lieber, interim president and CEO of New York’s MTA told CNBC’s” Squawk Box “Thursday.
“Because gravity is doing its job, and the metro system is a shallow system, and it’s not a submarine. So we really need to work with the street level drainage officials of the government of the city, and we will, ”Lieber said. CNBC.
Flood waters surround vehicles following heavy rains on a freeway in Brooklyn, New York, in early September 2, 2021, as flash floods and record-breaking rainfall from the remnants of Storm Ida swept through the area.
Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images
The MTA was overwhelmed by massive amounts of rain that fell in a relatively short time window.
“There was historic rainfall last night – the first time a flash flood emergency has been declared in the New York City area,” Lieber told CNBC. “What really took its toll was that three and a half inches of rain fell in an hour, basically between 9 and 10 p.m.”
“It has submerged a lot of our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, etc., and it has had a negative impact on the transit system,” he said.
At 11:27 p.m. Wednesday night, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered New Yorkers not to go out. “Please don’t go out on the streets tonight and let our first responders and emergency services do their job. If you are thinking of going out, don’t,” de Blasio tweeted.
“Stay off the subways. Stay off the roads. Don’t drive in these heavy waters. Stay inside,” de Blasio said.
New York firefighters rescued hundreds of people from subways, buildings and roads on Wednesday evening, an FDNY spokesperson told NBC News.
While the city’s transportation infrastructure struggled with flash floods, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, according to Lieber. He cited as a saving grace the construction carried out in the aftermath of Storm Sandy, which hit New York at the end of October 2012.
“We’ve made a ton of investments in coastal resilience since Super Storm Sandy, and it’s paid off,” Lieber told CNBC. “Our underwater tunnels were able to pump, and the pumping capacity worked really well, but in some of these higher elevation areas flash floods from overflowed drains and sewers at street level crept in. one way through the subway system and knocked us out for a few hours. “
The MTA buses were able to keep running and were essential in getting New Yorkers home on Wednesday night, Lieber said.
“The buses have been running nonstop,” Lieber told CNBC. “The bus drivers were heroic. They brought a lot of people home. They bypassed all these abandoned cars and all these puddles. And the bus system is working fine.”
There was limited service on some subway lines Thursday morning, Lieber told CNBC, and “we expect to have a lot of service in the afternoon on the subway.”
The Metro-North commuter train service “is really broken down today” and another local commuter train system, the Long Island Rail Road, “is doing well, but also has some limitations,” Lieber said.
“But the bus system really bailed us out yesterday, and the metro system is coming back quickly,” Lieber said.
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