Thousands of Bronx commuters found themselves without service Friday as MTA crews worked feverishly to restore service along subway lines most affected by Hurricane Ida.
Even as sunny skies helped dry out the flooding created by record levels of rain dumped on the Bronx during Wednesday night’s storm, service on the #6 line remained suspended between Parkchester and 86th Street Friday morning, and the MTA was reporting delays on the #2 and #4 lines. Bus service delays were also being reported.
“I’ve been living here all my life, in Mott Haven, and I’ve never seen a storm this bad,” said local resident Marissa Morales, 30. “The lights were flickering, I thought there was going to be a blackout.”
While Morales did not end up losing power Wednesday night, many New Yorkers did. Of the 21,096 customers that lost power overnight in New York, service has been restored to approximately 8,265, according to Con Edison.
As of Thursday evening, more than 250 Con Ed customers in the Bronx remained without power, according to reporting by News12 Bronx. Con Ed reported that the hardest hit neighborhoods in the Bronx were Pelham Gardens and Laconia.
As families across the Bronx and the other boroughs continued cleanup efforts Friday, politicians began questioning the city’s preparedness for extreme weather events, and the adequacy of its drainage systems and other infrastructure.
As Hurricane Ida approached the Tri-State area Wednesday evening, cell phones across New York City blared, lighting up screens with local Flash Flood Warnings. As the storm made its way through New York City, it left a trail of chaotic scenery: flooded streets and highways, power outages, suspended public transit, and destruction of storefronts and private property.
As rainfall intensified, the South Bronx was also put on tornado watch, but residents were spared that further trauma.
As of Thursday evening, 13 people are known to have died in New York City as a result of the hurricane, according to the NYPD. The National Weather Service issued New York City’s first ever Flash Flood Emergency late Wednesday evening.
Despite heavy flooding in some areas and the tornado watch, by Friday the South Bronx was drying itself out and assessing the extent of damage.
Don Seri, a Restaurant Server at iNINE Bistro expected that there would be a lot more to clean up in the storefront. Despite leaving work early Wednesday night to a river of water flowing down Bruckner Boulevard, Seri said that there was only mild flooding in the restaurant’s backyard the following morning.
In the South Bronx, the impact of the storm was far more visible below ground. At the peak of the storm, the MTA website showed at least 18 subway lines to be suspended.
As the MTA works to restore regular service, train status can be checked on the MTA’s website: https://new.mta.info.
The city posted a resource assistance page for those affected by Hurricane Ida.
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