NEW YORK: New York City was slowly getting back to business as usual on Monday after Hurricane Irene but hundreds of thousands of people who normally travel in from the surrounding area faced a hellish commute as flooding knocked out some transit routes.
Downgraded to a tropical and then a post-tropical storm, Irene pelted eastern Canada with rain and 50-mile-per-hour (80-kph) winds late on Sunday after killing 20 people in the United States. It cut power to 5 million homes and businesses and choked towns with floodwaters, especially in Vermont and New Jersey.
Financial markets were expected to open as normal, albeit with reduced volume.
New York subways and air travel at major airports slowly started to resume service but there were expected to be delays and overcrowding and commuter rail services feeding the city from the north and from New Jersey were out indefinitely.
Brian Pearson, 59, who works at the CBS television show called "The 22" and took the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station, said he was "fashionably late," but at least he made it. "The show must go on," he added, as he bought a coffee from a street vendor outside the station.
Those who could avoid public transport seemed to be resorting to driving. Traffic was unusually heavy on Manhattan's West Side Highway in the early hours, with cars nearly bumper-to-bumper at one point.
In one small, residential northern Manhattan neighborhood that is ordinarily well-served by the subway system, no fewer than 13 cars-for-hire were idling on the side of the road at 5:30 a.m., waiting for fares.
"It's too early," said driver Nelson Peralta, who was just getting back to work after staying off the roads Sunday.
Wall Street was largely unaffected by the storm as was Ground Zero, where the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks is soon to be observed.
source- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/New-York-City-gets-back-to-business-after-Irene/articleshow/9785559.cms
Downgraded to a tropical and then a post-tropical storm, Irene pelted eastern Canada with rain and 50-mile-per-hour (80-kph) winds late on Sunday after killing 20 people in the United States. It cut power to 5 million homes and businesses and choked towns with floodwaters, especially in Vermont and New Jersey.
Financial markets were expected to open as normal, albeit with reduced volume.
New York subways and air travel at major airports slowly started to resume service but there were expected to be delays and overcrowding and commuter rail services feeding the city from the north and from New Jersey were out indefinitely.
Brian Pearson, 59, who works at the CBS television show called "The 22" and took the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station, said he was "fashionably late," but at least he made it. "The show must go on," he added, as he bought a coffee from a street vendor outside the station.
Those who could avoid public transport seemed to be resorting to driving. Traffic was unusually heavy on Manhattan's West Side Highway in the early hours, with cars nearly bumper-to-bumper at one point.
In one small, residential northern Manhattan neighborhood that is ordinarily well-served by the subway system, no fewer than 13 cars-for-hire were idling on the side of the road at 5:30 a.m., waiting for fares.
"It's too early," said driver Nelson Peralta, who was just getting back to work after staying off the roads Sunday.
Wall Street was largely unaffected by the storm as was Ground Zero, where the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks is soon to be observed.
source- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/New-York-City-gets-back-to-business-after-Irene/articleshow/9785559.cms
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