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Midtown madness
15/08/2003 01:51 - (SA)
New York - The endless avenues that slice Manhattan Island north to south turned to molasses Thursday as a massive power outage stalled traffic and sent pedestrians on what looked from the air like a slow-motion marathon run.
It was as if New York City had been turned inside out.
Manhattan's giant skyscrapers disgorged their millions of office workers and residents onto the sidewalks, commuters walked the streets above the empty subway system. Mobile phone users queued in their hundreds for the precious public pay phones.
"Will you look at this! The whole world is out here," said Dave Lacocco as he walked into a sea of humanity outside his office block on 47th Street.
As initial fears of a terorist attacked eased, New Yorkers focused their concern on how to escape the gridlocked city and get home.
"Going to Brooklyn? Going to Brooklyn? Oh come on!!" one woman screamed at a taxi driver whose cab was already packed with five relieved passengers.
Sweltering heat saw nerves quickly stretched to breaking point with crowds throning street kiosks selling water, as most shops pulled down the shutters for fear of looters.
O'Neil's, an Irish pub on 3rd Avenue was bursting at the seams, as some chose to wait out the chaos rather than struggle with the masses outside.
Have a drink!
"When all else fails, have a drink," joked Bronx resident Gavin Murray as he fought his way to the bar.
Outside Grand Central Station, one of the city's main transport hubs, frustrated commuters argued in vain with police officers guarding the evacuated terminus.
"But how do you expect us to get home," wailed one exasperated woman. "Walk through the Holland Tunnel to New Jersey?"
With traffic lights and pedestrian signals out of operation, traffic came to a virtual standstill, despite the efforts of stressed traffic cops.
"Move this now!" one policeman shouted, slapping his hand on the bonnet of a stationary BMW.
"Where the hell do you expect me to go?" the driver replied gesturing to the chaos around him.
Going nowhere
At some inter-sections where police were not present, people with a heightened sense of civic duty, opted to take matters into their hands and direct traffic themselves - with predictably mixed results.
A group of tourists whose open top bus became stuck at the corner of 49th Street were given a swift introduction to New York humour.
"Welcome to new York!" passers-by shouted up at them. "Are you enjoying yourselves? Don't forget to check out the Empire State Building" knowing that the bus was going nowhere.
Happiest amid the mayhem, were the street vendors, many of whom sold out their stock of hot dogs, burgers, giant pretzels and soft drinks within an hour.
"Oh yes, you love me now!" the operator of a Mister Softee ice cream van shouted over a line of 30-plus customers. "Where were you when the power was on."
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