NEW YORK – A geyser of water burst through the walls of Manhattan subway station Wednesday night, one of many frightening flash flooding incidents across the city as the remnants of Hurricane Ida brought record levels of rain to the city.
Bryan Roman, an operator on the No. 1 line, was driving an uptown train into the 28th St. stop in Chelsea around 9:30 p.m. when he saw the water pouring into the station. He stopped the train with only its front car in the station.
“I couldn’t tell whether it was coming from the platform itself or the wall,” said Roman. “You can’t run a train when there’s water over the third rail. Luckily I was able to stop before that point.”
The station flooded as the subway’s entire underground network was deluged. Ida dumped three to five inches of rain on the city per hour during parts of the night.
The heavy rainfall forced Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials to suspend subway service across the city around 10 p.m., shortly before Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Hochul declared states of emergency for the city.
Roman and the train’s conductor, Oneil Francis, helped evacuate their train, ushering riders through the doors between cars until they reached the front and could exit onto the platform.
“It turned into Niagara Falls,” said Francis. “People were taking photos when they got off the train. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
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