The MTA's commit to shut down the city's transit system in anticipation of an on the spot hit from Hurricane Irene begins by pulling service offline a minimum of twelve hours before the storm makes landfall.
An evacuation amount of ten to twelve hours - scheduled throughout daylight - would precede any systemwide shutdown, in step with the MTA's step-by-step hurricane set up, that the Daily News obtained Thursday.
EVACUATION ZONE MAP: realize YOUR HOME
The evacuation amount is meant to permit residents within the danger zone to use the system to escape. It "must be concluded with sufficient time remaining to make sure that every one train crews are going to be able to complete their visits and to achieve a location within which they will safely wait till the storm ends," the set up says.
MTA employees were already making ready yesterday: stockpiling sandbags, clearing drains and repositioning equipment on high ground.
LIVE STORM TRACKER
The agency - criticized throughout the December blizzard for not shutting down, leaving individuals stranded on trains - was readying for an unprecedented total shutdown.
The greatest threat from a hurricane to the nation's biggest transit system is not high winds or blowing debris or perhaps serious rainfall. it is the monster coastal surges that pour water into the tunnels, cutting electricity to the third rail.
The MTA battle set up, created in 2007, however still valid nowadays, says the worst doable situation could be a hurricane creating landfall at Atlantic town, one hundred miles south of the town. Hurricanes spin counter-clockwise, thus a giant storm creating landfall to the south would push a wall of ocean water onto big apple.
Federal scientists say a class two hurricane might drive a 20-foot storm surge into Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. If that's what seems to be looming, the MTA hurricane set up concerns bus service to start to be curtailed a minimum of twelve hours before landfall.
At least eight hours before landfall, the subways would begin shutting down. At "zero hour" - approximately six hours before landfall, when winds reach thirty-nine mph - all rail and bus service would be suspended, the MTA set up says.
Each station are going to be searched to create positive nobody is left behind in an elevator or toilet, and then gates or barricade tape can go up to dam stairways to the road level.
MTA staff are urged to hold a "go bag" with further garments and snacks in case they get stuck with extended tours of duty. The set up identifies various subway tunnels that are sure to flood in a very class one storm, together with under-river tunnels and most lines that run through lower Manhattan and therefore the Rockaways.
A storm crisis center would be originated at forty Sands St. in Brooklyn, where officers can monitor harm and verify when to restart service Monday.
In December 1992, all the subways stopped running for many hours when a nor'easter's 8-foot storm surge flooded a Con Ed station.
hkennedy@nydailynews.com
11 years ago
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