UPDATED | Floodwaters rushed through Lower Manhattan on Monday night, inundating subway and automotive tunnels and likely forcing a prolonged shutdown of New York City’s mass-transit system. No clear estimate was available, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority did not provide a timetable for reopening the subways. But the extent of flooding and the height of the storm surge appeared likely to meet or exceed the level of a 1992 nor’easter that forced the temporary closure of subway tunnels for both the MTA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The likelihood of damage to underground infrastructure from a wave of corrosive saltwater made the chance of a quick restoration of full subway service between Manhattan and Brooklyn slim. One MTA official said, “It could be a long time.”
As the Journal reported earlier Monday evening, transit workers were moving to seal off openings that could allow corrosive salt water to sweep into the subway system and incapacitate trains. Still, the threat of an extended shutdown loomed over a system that carries 5.2 million passengers a day and is essential to the city’s economy.
