NY Floods - what it was like to be stranded on a train/subwa

[Opti]

Interesting article. Anyone ever get stuck like this? I also saw one video of people standing on seats in a bus because the water was that high.

www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-york-floods-what-it-was-like-to-be-stranded-on-subway-stations-and-trains-overnight/ar-AAO1Lvy?ocid=msedgntp


Camilla Akbari boarded a 7:43 p.m. New Jersey Transit train on Wednesday night from New York Penn Station hoping to get to her mom's place in Princeton, New Jersey. It's a trip that generally takes about an hour. This ride, though, took about 14.

NJ Transit said about 200 passengers were on board Train 3881, which left New York at 7:43 p.m. headed for Trenton. The train became disabled at about 8:30 p.m. due to exceedingly high flood waters on the tracks east of Newark International Airport, NJ Transit spokeswoman Mariluz Garcia-Diaz said.

Several hours of waiting later, the electricity went out -- no lights, no air-conditioning and no ventilation, and no windows or doors open due to the pounding rain. The passengers eventually recognized they'd be stuck for the night and tried to go to sleep.
At around 4 a.m., Transit police arrived with water bottles and opened the doors for fresh air.



"I think I started to panic quite a bit," Akbari said. "By the time I got to the door that had been opened by the Transit authorities, I could tell I was shaking a little bit, there were tears in my eyes, just because I was so overwhelmed by the situation. So it was definitely frightening," she said.

[Tiny]

As a commuter - I feel bad for the NY commuters.  I am glad they are ok and I hope everyone stuck worked together to make the experience less awful (than it could have been). 

Probably in the early 2000's my train going home got stopped while still in the "train yard" we'd left the main station but weren't yet on the tracks for my "route" home. There had been an accident on the tracks with causalities. We sat for nearly 2 hours before we started creeping forward as the trains moved to facilitate incoming/outgoing commuter trains and freight trains. It was another hour before my train started the "route" home.
What should have been a 20 minute train ride took almost 3.5 hours.

This was before smart phones. Most of the commuters had "entertainment" - books, newspaper, paper work from work, some just slept or chatted with their train friends. It was somewhere around the 2 hour mark that people got restless/angry. It wasn't uncomfortable or "scary" just long and tedious. We had air flow (that's kind of a joke because the air filters are usually grey furry messes) and electricity (lights).   MOst of the commuters in my train car were calm and just toughed it out with a smile.   There's always a couple of people (out of the 75 people in the car )who have difficulties (get loudly angry and aggressive) when something like this happens at rush hour. 

I have a feeling if the train hadn't gotten stopped in the "train yard" - it would have eventually moved to a station/platform and we could have chosen to get off the train and find other transportation home.

(that's kind of what happens now-a-days - the train will get to a station/platform and unload - and you can call for an uber or a lyft or whatever is convenient (some times it's a city bus which serves the stations/platform). 

[Tennesseer]

I do feel bad for those who drowned in the basement apartments.  Not sure how it happened-were the basements slowly filling up or was it very sudden with no time to get to an upper floor.

[Opti]

Sept 3, 2021 11:18:37 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I do feel bad for those who drowned in the basement apartments.  Not sure how it happened-were the basements slowly filling up or was it very sudden with no time to get to an upper floor.

I was just reading about one of them. Once it got bad they were trapped. They had one door to an external stairway that had concrete around it and the windows were barred. It was probably fast. Water probably drained into the stairwell and once they realized they were in trouble, they would have been unable to open the door. 

I'm still in shock looking at pics and hearing about what happened locally. The rain came quickly. We probably had 7 of our 8 plus inches of rain in less than 4 hours, probably about in three hours time. My guess is the lot in that complex sloped down and drained into that stairwell. I've watched some other videos will much less flooding and I think the door should have buckled earlier, but they would have had to swim or walk into water pushing towards them. They would have had to bail early and be let into someone else's apartment or endure the heavy rain outside. This family from Nepal had their apartment flood to the ceiling and into the one above them. Very tragic.

[Tiny]

Sept 3, 2021 11:18:37 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I do feel bad for those who drowned in the basement apartments.  Not sure how it happened-were the basements slowly filling up or was it very sudden with no time to get to an upper floor. 

I suspect it was somewhat fast. It happened at night so people were sleeping and might not have noticed during the time the water was coming in slower... by the time they woke up - probably no lights (no electricity) - and they would have to traverse their apartment in the dark with floating stuff and water rising. Doors are hard to open when there is a couple of feet of water.

I live in the land of gravity sewers and where storm drains and sewers are the same thing. Years ago one of the local subdivisions first got inundated with sewer back up of storm water and then one of the levees failed and the overflowing local river poured into their subdivision. What would have been 4 feet of "sewer storm water backup" in their basements became 8 feet of water in their basements - as in basements filled with water above the doorframes in the basements. No one died - but there were pet fatalities. and hundreds of houses damaged. the deluge happened over a 2 hour period during the day (of weekday). It was pretty awful.

I did not flood - I have a check valve that prevents sewer back up. I did not get river water - but my alley and my and my neighbors backyards filled up with water as did our street. I was home that day (a day off of work) and I was watching as the "rain water" flooding slowly crept closer to my house... it got to within 3 feet of my foundation...

After that - my city (and the surrounding 'burbs) started making parking lots and alleys and where ever they could have some sort of natural drainage to help keep water out of the sewers and help keep yards/streets from flooding. basically trying to give rain water someplace to go since we don't and can't have "retention ponds". 

the last few deluges of rain water - have filled up the city street (as the storm sewer couldn't handle  the water)  and my alley and our back yards filled up with water - but it never came so close to my foundation.    I am one really bad storm (or train of storms)  from having my back yard overflow into my basement.   

[Opti]

The rain by me was mostly between 6 and 9PM. My guess is it wasn't much later in NYC. Here's an article on three of the basement apartment fatalities. I thought this was the article I read, but the six image slideshow isn't in it. 


www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/2-year-old-boy-and-his-parents-found-dead-in-flooded-nyc-basement-apartment-after-extreme-rainfall/ar-AAO2gcD?ocid=msedgntp

Fast-moving rains from Tropical Storm Ida sparked catastrophic flooding last night, which killed 9 New Yorkers, including a 2-year-old boy.



The boy and his 50-year-old dad and 48-year-old mom were found dead at about 10 p.m. inside a basement in a home on 64th St. near Laurel Hill Blvd. in Woodside, Queens.



The water rapidly rose in the night and got so high that it flooded the first-floor apartment.

Sledge received a call from the family in the basement pleading for help at around 9:30 p.m.



Sledge recalled speaking with Sherpa, "She said ‘The water is coming in right now,’ and I say, ‘Get out!’ Get to the third floor!...the last thing I hear from them is, ‘The water coming in from the window.’ And that was it.”

[Tennesseer]

Sept 3, 2021 11:58:36 GMT -5 Opti said:

The rain by me was mostly between 6 and 9PM. My guess is it wasn't much later in NYC. Here's an article on three of the basement apartment fatalities. I thought this was the article I read, but the six image slideshow isn't in it. 


www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/2-year-old-boy-and-his-parents-found-dead-in-flooded-nyc-basement-apartment-after-extreme-rainfall/ar-AAO2gcD?ocid=msedgntp
Fast-moving rains from Tropical Storm Ida sparked catastrophic flooding last night, which killed 9 New Yorkers, including a 2-year-old boy.

The boy and his 50-year-old dad and 48-year-old mom were found dead at about 10 p.m. inside a basement in a home on 64th St. near Laurel Hill Blvd. in Woodside, Queens.

The water rapidly rose in the night and got so high that it flooded the first-floor apartment.

Sledge received a call from the family in the basement pleading for help at around 9:30 p.m.

Sledge recalled speaking with Sherpa, "She said ‘The water is coming in right now,’ and I say, ‘Get out!’ Get to the third floor!...the last thing I hear from them is, ‘The water coming in from the window.’ And that was it.”

From your article: "The police said that 11 of the 12 city residents who died in the storm had been found in basement apartments."

When I moved from Connecticut to New Jersey one of the apartments I looked at was a basement apartment in Little Falls. I wasn't keen on it because the only windows were up by the ceiling and let in little light. I also felt like it was a trap waiting to happen. And I just remembered there was a stream/river close by.

Passed on it and rented an apartment in Newark living on the 14th floor looking out at mid-to lower Manhattan in the distance. Nice view on non-hazy days.

[Opti]

More stories. The loss of life is greater in this area than LA where it made landfall. I had no idea it was going to be this bad. Ended up that my area was in the path of the worst of it.


www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/retiree-bashed-in-windshield-pushed-wife-out-of-car-before-swept-away-by-ida-floodwaters/ar-AAO4q5A?ocid=msedgntp

[Tennesseer]

Sept 3, 2021 12:09:00 GMT -5 Opti said:

More stories. The loss of life is greater in this area than LA where it made landfall. I had no idea it was going to be this bad. Ended up that my area was in the path of the worst of it.


www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/retiree-bashed-in-windshield-pushed-wife-out-of-car-before-swept-away-by-ida-floodwaters/ar-AAO4q5A?ocid=msedgntp

The problem was all the moisture left in Ida was met with a cold front moving into the northeast which increased the moisture in the air. Not the case in Louisiana.

[Opti]

Sept 3, 2021 12:07:27 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Sept 3, 2021 11:58:36 GMT -5 Opti said:

The rain by me was mostly between 6 and 9PM. My guess is it wasn't much later in NYC. Here's an article on three of the basement apartment fatalities. I thought this was the article I read, but the six image slideshow isn't in it. 


www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/2-year-old-boy-and-his-parents-found-dead-in-flooded-nyc-basement-apartment-after-extreme-rainfall/ar-AAO2gcD?ocid=msedgntp
Fast-moving rains from Tropical Storm Ida sparked catastrophic flooding last night, which killed 9 New Yorkers, including a 2-year-old boy.

The boy and his 50-year-old dad and 48-year-old mom were found dead at about 10 p.m. inside a basement in a home on 64th St. near Laurel Hill Blvd. in Woodside, Queens.

The water rapidly rose in the night and got so high that it flooded the first-floor apartment.

Sledge received a call from the family in the basement pleading for help at around 9:30 p.m.

Sledge recalled speaking with Sherpa, "She said ‘The water is coming in right now,’ and I say, ‘Get out!’ Get to the third floor!...the last thing I hear from them is, ‘The water coming in from the window.’ And that was it.”

From your article: "The police said that 11 of the 12 city residents who died in the storm had been found in basement apartments."

When I moved from Connecticut to New Jersey one of the apartments I looked at was a basement apartment in Little Falls. I wasn't keen on it because the only windows were up by the ceiling and let in little light. I also felt like it was a trap waiting to happen. And I just remembered there was a stream/river close by.

Passed on it and rented an apartment in Newark living on the 14th floor looking out at mid-to lower Manhattan in the distance. Nice view on non-hazy days.

Yes they definitely can be traps. Its all so sad. 

[teen persuasion]

My only stuck on a bus story was when I was in HS, but it was a snowstorm, not rain.

They decided to close school and send us home at 10am. I remember how weird it was in the hallway at our lockers, there was thundersnow, and the flashes were eerie. My HS was in the city, so I had to take one bus to a transfer point and switch. At the transfer point, "my" bus never arrived (delayed somewhere doing an earlier run) so we waited out in the snowstorm; eventually the other busses gave up waiting and left. Someone let us into the school building on site, to get out of the cold - we stood in the hall next to the boiler room, and all the wet snow on us proceeded to melt, leaving us damp. We'd left before lunch, so those of us that packed a lunch had food, but buyers were hungry. Eventually a bus arrived.

Road conditions were bad, and our route took us over a bridge with a sharp turn and climb up a hill at the end. Taking things slow and slippery roads meant we couldn't climb the hill, and got stuck in a steep ditch. So we waited for another bus to come pick us up, and hope no one hit us on the narrow road.

I got home after 3pm, about normal time. The spot we were stuck was not far from my home, maybe a mile, but there was no way they'd let us just walk home.

[Tennesseer]

Cranford, New Jersey basement wall collapsing.

[Opti]

Sept 3, 2021 17:09:35 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Cranford, New Jersey basement wall collapsing.

That's a surprise given the inside amount of water. I wonder what it looked like on the outside wall before it collapsed. According to the news, a house in Basking Ridge was pushed off its foundation.

[Tennesseer]

Evening news just said five of the six basement/cellar apartments in NYC where 11 people were trapped and drowned were illegal apartments.  No approved for occupancy.

I see multiple wrongful death lawsuits in the homeowners' future.

[Tennesseer]

Sept 3, 2021 13:55:01 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

My only stuck on a bus story was when I was in HS, but it was a snowstorm, not rain.

They decided to close school and send us home at 10am. I remember how weird it was in the hallway at our lockers, there was thundersnow, and the flashes were eerie. My HS was in the city, so I had to take one bus to a transfer point and switch. At the transfer point, "my" bus never arrived (delayed somewhere doing an earlier run) so we waited out in the snowstorm; eventually the other busses gave up waiting and left. Someone let us into the school building on site, to get out of the cold - we stood in the hall next to the boiler room, and all the wet snow on us proceeded to melt, leaving us damp. We'd left before lunch, so those of us that packed a lunch had food, but buyers were hungry. Eventually a bus arrived.

Road conditions were bad, and our route took us over a bridge with a sharp turn and climb up a hill at the end. Taking things slow and slippery roads meant we couldn't climb the hill, and got stuck in a steep ditch. So we waited for another bus to come pick us up, and hope no one hit us on the narrow road.

I got home after 3pm, about normal time. The spot we were stuck was not far from my home, maybe a mile, but there was no way they'd let us just walk home.

The Catholic diocese high school I attended was a five minute walk from home. (The Catholic grammar school I attended was a one minute walk from home.) The high school was not only local students but students attended from surrounding towns too.

One winter before I was old enough to drive, high school was let out early due to a snow storm. As opposed to taking their regular school busses home or taking city busses home, a few kids, at my invitation, came over to my home to hang out.

My poor dad ended up driving these kids home late afternoon/early evening. Took a couple hours of driving through heavy snow to get them home safely. Dad never said a word to me on the ride back home how stupid it was of me to invite kids over and expect him to drive them home.

I still guiltily chuckle over that late afternoon and still thank dad in my head for not saying anything to me. I know he had to be biting his tongue.

[tallguy]

Sept 3, 2021 13:55:01 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

My only stuck on a bus story was when I was in HS, but it was a snowstorm, not rain.

They decided to close school and send us home at 10am. I remember how weird it was in the hallway at our lockers, there was thundersnow, and the flashes were eerie. My HS was in the city, so I had to take one bus to a transfer point and switch. At the transfer point, "my" bus never arrived (delayed somewhere doing an earlier run) so we waited out in the snowstorm; eventually the other busses gave up waiting and left. Someone let us into the school building on site, to get out of the cold - we stood in the hall next to the boiler room, and all the wet snow on us proceeded to melt, leaving us damp. We'd left before lunch, so those of us that packed a lunch had food, but buyers were hungry. Eventually a bus arrived.

Road conditions were bad, and our route took us over a bridge with a sharp turn and climb up a hill at the end. Taking things slow and slippery roads meant we couldn't climb the hill, and got stuck in a steep ditch. So we waited for another bus to come pick us up, and hope no one hit us on the narrow road.

I got home after 3pm, about normal time. The spot we were stuck was not far from my home, maybe a mile, but there was no way they'd let us just walk home.

My worst was one time when it started to snow pretty heavily while I was at work.  There was no way my car was going to make it home in the snow, so I decided to try the bus.  I was waiting for quite a while until someone called out to me that the buses weren't running on that route.  I walked up to a major road since I knew they would run there.  Bus after bus passed me by, full to overflowing with the aisle packed as well.  I started to walk, with more buses going by.  Part of my walk was over a bridge, with the wind and driving rain and snow from the now-blizzard conditions hitting me in the face.  There was so much ice frozen in my hair that my entire head hurt terribly.  I ended up walking about three or four miles before finally catching a bus for about a mile.  I then had to transfer, but again there were no buses so I walked another two+ miles home.  For several reasons, Seattle doesn't do snow well.  Fortunately, we rarely get a lot of it, but transportation in heavy snow is extremely difficult here.

[teen persuasion]

Sept 3, 2021 23:59:12 GMT -5 tallguy said:

Sept 3, 2021 13:55:01 GMT -5 teen persuasion said:

My only stuck on a bus story was when I was in HS, but it was a snowstorm, not rain.

They decided to close school and send us home at 10am. I remember how weird it was in the hallway at our lockers, there was thundersnow, and the flashes were eerie. My HS was in the city, so I had to take one bus to a transfer point and switch. At the transfer point, "my" bus never arrived (delayed somewhere doing an earlier run) so we waited out in the snowstorm; eventually the other busses gave up waiting and left. Someone let us into the school building on site, to get out of the cold - we stood in the hall next to the boiler room, and all the wet snow on us proceeded to melt, leaving us damp. We'd left before lunch, so those of us that packed a lunch had food, but buyers were hungry. Eventually a bus arrived.

Road conditions were bad, and our route took us over a bridge with a sharp turn and climb up a hill at the end. Taking things slow and slippery roads meant we couldn't climb the hill, and got stuck in a steep ditch. So we waited for another bus to come pick us up, and hope no one hit us on the narrow road.

I got home after 3pm, about normal time. The spot we were stuck was not far from my home, maybe a mile, but there was no way they'd let us just walk home.

My worst was one time when it started to snow pretty heavily while I was at work.  There was no way my car was going to make it home in the snow, so I decided to try the bus.  I was waiting for quite a while until someone called out to me that the buses weren't running on that route.  I walked up to a major road since I knew they would run there.  Bus after bus passed me by, full to overflowing with the aisle packed as well.  I started to walk, with more buses going by.  Part of my walk was over a bridge, with the wind and driving rain and snow from the now-blizzard conditions hitting me in the face.  There was so much ice frozen in my hair that my entire head hurt terribly.  I ended up walking about three or four miles before finally catching a bus for about a mile.  I then had to transfer, but again there were no buses so I walked another two+ miles home.  For several reasons, Seattle doesn't do snow well.  Fortunately, we rarely get a lot of it, but transportation in heavy snow is extremely difficult here.

I grew up in Buffalo's Snow Belt.  We are quite used to dealing with snow here, but I've definitely seen an evolution in how things are handled over time.

After a few storms came up mid-day that triggered an early dismissal that went horribly wrong as traffic was snarled by the storm, districts began erring on the side of caution. Close school preemptively, don't wait for the storm to hit. Sometimes the conditions don't materialize, or aren't as bad as predicted, and there's grumbling about burning snow days we'll need later - then it swings the other way, but they are much more cautious towards safety. Especially the city district - many more walkers (hard with snow clogged sidewalks), denser street coverage makes plowing slower, etc.

I've seen many more college closings for weather in recent years. They almost never closed years ago. I remember walking home after classes and work (to my apartment off campus) down the middle of Main St Buffalo, because it was a blizzard. In the 2000's I drove DD1 to a gifted math program at the university 25 miles away, twice a week. Whenever the weather was getting bad, I'd hope they'd cancel GMP. Never happened, never, in 6 years. Now I see it several times a year.

[Tennesseer]

While this past winter (February - early March) was the worst I have been through living here since 1994 (near record low temps and an ice storm and two snow storms in one week's time) it's tornado weather which causes the most concern.

Back on Super Tuesday (preliminary day here) in 2008, schools were let out at noon due to the possibility of tornados storms mid-afternoon.  A friend of mine thought it was stupid to let schools out early due to safety concerns.

At approximately 5 p.m., and around the time some students would be walking home or taking busses home from school, a tornado struck our city killing several folks.  It could have been worse if kids were out and about outdoors.

Smart move of the schools getting out early.

2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak
link

[Opti]

Some places did take awhile for water to rise. This is from Westchester county. The video shows how high the water level was.

www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/inside-a-new-york-apartment-after-hurricane-ida-120057413782?cid=referral_taboolafeed

Just read an article, Biden is expected to visit Queens and Manville NJ on Tuesday. So much devastation I guess he's just doing a highlight tour.

[Opti]

Same reporter tours a home in Manville, NJ. Video at link.

www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/-complete-and-utter-destruction-in-n-j-following-historic-flooding-120142405860?cid=referral_taboolafeed

[Cookies Galore]

I'm a public transit commuter, so I have a lot of stuck on the train stories, but my worst is probably over three hours frozen to the tracks in between stations. Thankfully nothing as bad as being trapped during flooding.

I live in a river town in southeastern PA. My house is on a hill, so thankfully we are okay, but our riverward neighborhood was devastated. Flood waters from the Schuylkill River rose to the first floor of almost every house in that neighborhood; roughly 10 blocks or so. The river was supposed to "only" crest at 20.8 feet so residents were prepared for some basement flooding, but nothing catastrophic. Late Wednesday night the NSW updated the flood stage estimate, but by then it was too late for those who didn't evacuate or move their cars. The river ended up cresting at 26.85 feet, knocking out the record or 25 feet set by Agnes in 1972. I *think* major flood stage is 14 feet, so just awful flooding. We ended up having nearly 100 water rescues performed well into Thursday. One resident drowned in their basement.
We were on vacation this past week, so I was a nervous wreck seeing the damage from 1900 miles away. We got home Saturday night and spent all of Sunday and yesterday assisting with flood clean up. I'm exhausted.

[Opti]

Sorry to hear about your neighbors and yes that's a big swing. I think all the rivers I read about in NJ broke previous records for highest flood stage. There were mitigation efforts in some areas, but in one case, a train was stuck on the flooded tracks so the flood gates could not close. 

Thank you for assisting with flood cleanup. I'm sure it was appreciated.
Tomorrow we are supposed to be blessed with an inch of rain. 

[Tennesseer]

Video of tornado going through NJ neighborhood in the link.

A New Jersey man filmed the stunning moment a tornado hit his home and captured the devastation in the moments following the storm link