- Title: 'A government failure' - Central Harlem wades through subway flood
- Date: 9th July 2021
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 9, 2021) (REUTERS) NEW YORK LAW FIRM SUPPORT STAFF WORKER, ROXANNE HUNTER, WALKING IN SUBWAY STATION (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK LAW FIRM SUPPORT STAFF WORKER, ROXANNE HUNTER, SAYING: "I think it's a... like a failure on the government, like the city government's part, because we should have better drainage systems here. Yeah." (REPORTER ASKING "Are you hopeful that that can happen?") HUNTER SAYING: "Yeah, hopefully, like with the new people, like, you know, elections just happening and everything, hopefully that could happen. But it definitely shows the divide between the rich and the poor. Like the..., people didn't have a choice but to swim through the water here, like to basically wade through the water yesterday to get to work or whatever. But you don't hear about that happening on the East side (of Manhattan)." CEILING / STATION CLOSE OF SIGN FOR SUBWAY LINE #1, DOWNTOWN PEOPLE WALKING OUT VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE TO 157TH STREET SUBWAY STATION FIRETRUCK PASSING THROUGH NEIGHBORHOOD INTERSECTION OF 157TH STREET AND BROADWAY AVENUE PEOPLE WALKING IN NEIGHBORHOOD (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HARLEM RESIDENT, ANGELICA HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "It was disastrous - the water in the subway station. That just can't be, seeing that where people walk through, go and come from work. That just can't be. So a solution must be found. How could that happen, here, in New York? In the Heights of Manhattan. Something like that, which I saw myself, where people were swimming, getting out, all wet? All their papers got wet, all their belongings. Which is to say... there must be a solution." (SOUNDBITE) (English) HARLEM RESIDENT, RICK, SAYING: "Somebody showed me a video yesterday of like, that, it looked like the highway, I don't know, but it looked like it was flooded and I thought to myself, the rain could have not possibly have done that. So something must have broke down. I guess maybe they need a little bit, how should I say, more maintenance, maybe do it more frequently, during the year, you know, check out whatever's not working, and switch it out." PEOPLE ENTERING SUBWAY VARIOUS OF TRAIN PLATFORM FOR 157th STREET STOP SUBWAY CAR PULLING OUT
- Embargoed: 23rd July 2021 19:26
- Keywords: 157th Street Station MTA Subway flooding infrastructure
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Ground Accidents/Collisions,Disaster/Accidents,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA004EL4E5ON
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Residents of Upper Manhattan directly blamed government officials Friday (July 9) for flooding that overtook an area subway station the day before, they told Reuters in interviews.
After being downgraded to a tropical storm, Elsa is nevertheless currently lashing the region.
Widely shared videos showed subway riders struggling Thursday (July 8) to wade through water as the station at 157th Street in Harlem was flooded.
"You don't hear about that happening on the East side (of Manhattan)," said area resident, Roxanne Hunter, who is a support staff worker at a New York law firm, referring to a more upscale area of Manhattan. "I think it's a... like a failure on the government, like the city government's part, because we should have better drainage systems here."
The rains did also pour down on other stations, including 42nd Street, Bryant Park, located in Manhattan's Midtown business district.
The MTA did not respond to a request for an interview with Reuters.
Elsa is expeted to weaken to a post-tropical cyclone by the end of Friday.
No deaths in the region have been reported.
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