One of my coworkers endured the brunt of the track flooding. He stood on the platform of his station in the Bronx in the rain for over an hour waiting for a train. Even the scheduled trains did not stop.
Once I left Grand Central Terminal to walk to the office--a two block walk up East 43rd Street--I could see why things might have been bad in the Bronx. It was raining so hard that water was not just running down the gutters of the streets, but up and over the sidewalks, ankle deep in some places. Many of us spent the morning walking around in stocking feet while our shoes dried.
By the time we left at the end of the day, some subway lines and Long Island Railroad lines were still being affected by flooded, even though the expected afternoon rainstorms never materialized. The Metro North lines seemed to be fine, and I caught the 5:23 train back to Connecticut.
About 40 minutes later a steam pipe near 41st and Lexington exploded. By all accounts it was a scary mess. The same coworker who had been caught in the storm in the morning was at the gym at Grand Central. They evacuated the building, and he did not get home until after 10:00 last night. It is a miracle that more people were not killed or injured.
I had gone out to dinner with a friend and remained blissfully unaware of the disaster until I turned on the radio this morning. In fact, I didn't know it happened last evening until I flipped open my cell phone to check for messages. The screen read "4 Missed Calls Mom." Obviously, she wanted to know if I was going to work this morning, so I called her to let her know I was on the train going in. Form all the news I'd heard so far, it appeared that our building was not in the "frozen zone," was not blocked off, and had power.
Wrong.
Mom had called four times LAST NIGHT trying to find out if I was okay. I was flabbergasted, because I had the phone with me all evening, and it was on. Only after I arrived at the office did I realize that the ringer was turned way down, and I obviously had not heard it ringing.
So, I knew that it would take a little longer to get to work because of closed streets. Little did I know. By the time we arrived this morning, they had actually opened a couple more exits. However, subways, while running, were still not stopping at Grand Central, so many more people were heading for the outside exits than would be otherwise. We could exit on Vanderbilt, the north side of the station, and walk over to 45th. However, at Lexington, the wouldn't let us continue East on 45th, so we had to go up to 46th. Yet once I got to 3rd Avenue, I could walk south all the way to 43rd. All of that because the block between 3rd and Lexington is closed off...as is Lexington for several blocks north, but not as many south. I'm sure there's a reason for the way they've cordoned off streets, but it doesn't seem to make much sense. It took almost 20 minutes to walk to the office. You can see the route I walked on the map below. The office is marked with an "X" and the explosion site with a circle.
All morning news reports and City bulletins said there was no asbestos in the air, but it was not very reassuring to see emergency crews (though not all of them) wearing ventilator masks. Later in the day we received reports that there was indeed a minuscule amount of asbestos in the air, but we should not worry because health problems come only from prolonged exposure. Another one of those "we don't want to alarm you, but [insert information here], so don't worry" communications.It is likely that traffic--both vehicular and pedestrian--will be disrupted for days, if not weeks. If nothing else, it means I will get my morning walk in getting from Grand Central to the office.
Peace,
Jeffri
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