Jun 28, 2007 8:54 am US/Eastern
Smoother Commute After Weather Causes Rail Chaos
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
Thursday morning's commute seemed to be going much smoother than Wednesday's evening ride.
The morning after heavy thunderstorms and torrential rains caused widespread rail problems, there were some scattered delays at Penn Station. But overall, the system seems to have bounced back from its service suspensions between Penn Station and Jamaica Wednesday night.
Potent thunderstorms swamped roads and train tracks, tore down trees and branches and knocked out power in parts of the New York City metro area Wednesday night.
Cars were stalled on flooded roadways, and commuters were stranded at Pennsylvania Station for about two hours as the Long Island Rail Road suspended almost all service because of the weather. Flights were delayed by up to three hours at LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports, and more than 46,000 homes and businesses were without power across the area.
By early Thursday, Penn Station reopened and LIRR service was restored.
At area airports, most flight schedules were on time, except for lingering issues with flights at JFK. Fewer streets and highways were closed due to high water, although some issues were still reported. Local utilities had restored power to the majority of homes and businesses in New York City, Westchester and Long Island.
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TRANSIT & TRAVEL A flash flood warning was in effect for central Queens until 3:15 a.m. Thursday, and a flood warning until 1:30 a.m. Thursday in the rest of New York City, as heat and humidity spawned heavy rains. Three to 5 inches of rain had fallen in much of the New York metro area by 10 p.m., and another inch fell in part of Queens, particularly the Jamaica section, the National Weather Service said.
The sudden downpours pooled into flash floods as much as 3 feet deep in some areas, stranding cars and pouring into basements, said Jeffrey Tongue, a meteorologist with the weather service.
"It's not the type of flooding that's just nuisance flooding," he said.
North of the city, the floods closed the Bronx River Parkway in both directions for hours near the Main Street exit in White Plains and the Fenimore Road exit in Scarsdale, Westchester County police said. One car was stranded in the water near the Main Street exit, but the occupants were rescued safely, police said. Motorists also were helped out of at least one flooded underpass on Long Island.
Hail and lightning knocked out the signal system at the LIRR's Jamaica station -- a critical hub for all but one of the railroad's 10 branches -- around 7:30 p.m., said spokeswoman Susan McGowan. The railroad soon halted trains on all but the Port Washington branch and shut a packed Penn Station to prevent overcrowding, she said.
Some trains were stopped and delayed between stations, but passengers were patient, McGowan said.
"All of the customers seemed to really understand the severity of the storms," she said.
The LIRR reopened Penn Station and began restoring service through Jamaica around 10 p.m., although three stations in Queens remained closed because trees had fallen across the tracks, McGowan said. The railroad was working to arrange bus service at those stations, she said.
The LIRR said all stations had reopened in time for the Thursday morning rush hour.
Lightning was being investigated as a possible cause of a roughly 45-minute power outage that affected about 385,000 people in Manhattan and the Bronx Wednesday afternoon, Consolidated Edison said.
More thunderstorms are predicted for Thursday.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
