Rain
And then more rain tonight. And then cloudy tomorrow. And then perhaps the worst part: Rainy and hot on Friday. Feh.
photo op
Washout
As of mid-afternoon, today’s storm had dropped 1.27 inches of rain in Central Park. And the forecast says it’s supposed to keep raining all night tonight. But there’s some good news: It looks like it’s going to be freaking gorgeous this weekend, whether you’re in town or on the East End or down the shore or upstate. Also, at least you don’t have this guy’s job.
Miraculously, New York Withstands Rain StormIt’s raining out (“lightly,” according to Weather.com; heavily, according to a look out our window), one to two inches of rainfall is expected, with “locally heavier rainfall possible,” and there’s a flash-food watch in effect for the city. And yes, at least according to the MTA’s Website, nearly all the subway trains are running — the only exception being some delays and diversions on the 2, 3, and 5 lines in Harlem, owing to a police investigation, not because of the weather. So, hey, congratulations, MTA, for doing what you’re supposed to do. Well done.
Service Alert [MTA]
10022 [Weather.com]
the morning line
Sheriff Andy?
• Andrew Cuomo, getting a feel for this whole crusading-A.G. thing, is asking the legislature to grant his office broad jurisdiction and subpoena powers. Our new awesome conspiracy theory: He gets the state GOP to empower him by promising them Spitzer’s head — and then subpoenas Bruno! [NYS]
photo op
The Deluge
Polaris sent over some more storm-damage pics late yesterday afternoon, including this one of a dude climbing for dear life away from his abandoned, submerged car in Maspeth. Wow.
Earlier:
Further Adventures in Decrepit Infrastructure: MTA-in-the-Rain Edition
A Brooklyn Cyclone?
the morning line
Brooklyn Cyclone, Confirmed
• Bay Ridge is cleaning up after, well, a tornado. There’s even a Red Cross shelter set up, with about 30 families in it; more than twenty homes are deemed uninhabitable. [amNY]
intel
And Spitzer Wonders, Still He Wonders, Who’ll Drain the Rain
It was a rough day for the MTA. And at a press conference this afternoon Eliot Spitzer revealed just how bad. The subway system is designed to drain up to an inch and a half of rainfall, he said; this storm inundated it with three inches in a frenzied hour. That made for what Spitzer said “is supposed to be a highly unusual event” — except for one thing: It’s the third time this year that’s happened. The puddling problem wasn’t this morning’s only calamity — MTA executive director Lee Sander later cited a downed tree near Stillwell Avenue and smoke in tunnels — but it was the most severe. At the governor’s insistence, the MTA will take 30 days, or thereabouts, to research how it might bolster the drains. When it’s announced, expect a round of wrangling among MTA leaders, state legislators, unions, and the rest. And perhaps buy yourself a kayak. —Alec Appelbaum
in other news
A Brooklyn Cyclone?
To recap: Every subway line was at some point today affected by the rain, and at midday the majority of lines were still in bad shape, according to Sewell Chan at the Times’ City Room blog. Buses were packed, commuters were pissed, and, in a delightful little detail, the MTA’s press office was hugely understaffed because all but one of its employees were stuck trying to get to work. There were major delays at all three airports. Four thousand Con Ed customers lost power. A woman was killed in what the Times is calling a “storm-related car accident” on Staten Island. And, perhaps most fascinating, there may have been a tornado in Bay Ridge. No fun. (But amazing photos.)
Flooding Cripples Subway System [City Room/NYT]
intel
Further Adventures in Decrepit Infrastructure: MTA-in-the-Rain Edition
As you may have noticed, it is raining today. Rather heavily, even. And so, naturally, as Daily Intel’s Bushwick-residing photo editor sends a text message to report, the B, D, F, V, 4, 5, and 6 trains aren’t running. The MTA Website also reports major problems on the 1, 2, 3, A, C, E, L, N, R, J, Q trains and on the 42nd Street Shuttle. (We think that leaves the 7 and the G as the only trains operating properly.) Don’t you just love our aging infrastructure?
Service Alert [MTA]
photo op
Countdown to iPhone: Someone Left the Line Out in the Rain
You know what’s tons of fun? Sleeping out for three days to get an overpriced cell phone! You know what’s even more fun? Sleeping out in the pouring rain for an overpriced cell phone!
Patrick and Ryan Brave the First Storm [Flickr via Gridskipper]
Earlier: Daily Intel’s team coverage of the iPhone.
gossipmonger
Gore ’08!Michael Moore may support Al Gore for president. A theater in the HBO building was named for former network chief Michael Fuchs, and Fuchs gave a weird, bad, awkward speech at the ceremony. Jerry Seinfeld is very excited about his upcoming Bee Movie. 50 Cent is very excited about playing a drug dealer opposite Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in his upcoming movie. A lot of racehorse owners are not pleased with Eliot Spitzer’s plan for Aqueduct to be government-run. David Burke took home $10,000 after beating Bobby Flay and Sam Talbot in a poker tournament in Aspen. Jimmy Fallon wants to lose weight. “Utter pandemonium” broke out, says a “Page Six” source, after Debra Messing, Mike Nichols, and other guests were rained upon during the Public Theater’s premiere of Romeo and Juliet in Central Park. (Actually, we thought it was pretty fun.) Ian Claus dedicated his first book to Chelsea Clinton.
party lines
Shakespeare in the Park: Wet and WildThe first bad sign at last night’s opening performance of Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare in the Park came when the lighting operators suddenly descended from their rigs in the middle of Juliet’s sleeping-potion soliloquy. Lauren Ambrose as Juliet collapsed on her bed, and then, le deluge. Cut to a thousand-odd slow-moving theater folk, stuck in the open-air Delacorte, trying to flee a downpour in their gala finery. Shakespeare’s wasn’t the only tragedy on display. Outside, huddled six-deep under the theater’s awning and waiting to find out if we’d head back for the big finish, Allison Janney told us that when she’d done Taming of the Shrew in the park, the cast had prayed for rain because it was so hot. (Be careful what you pray for, as they say.) Then Oskar Eustis, the Public’s creative director, made a decree: “God decided that tonight Romeo and Juliet will live!” There would be no death-scene finale. But the party was still on.
photo op
Wish It Were Sunday
We’re even more depressed than we usually are on Monday mornings.
New York, NY [Weather.com]
it happened this week
Plowshares
A week that commenced with swords drawn concluded with olive branches extended. Republicans who’d run on President Bush’s war record received a “thumpin’” in midterm elections, leading Bush to arrange a regime change at the Pentagon. Out was warlord Donald Rumsfeld, spouter of coldblooded koans such as “Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war”; in was serene ex-spook Robert Gates, who now must convince Iraqi insurgents to trade their Kalashnikovs for less-hostile playthings.
