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Killer rain grounds NY planes
08/08/2007 22:58 - (SA)
New York - Torrential rain blamed for at least one death flooded subways and rail lines and delayed flights on Wednesday morning at New York's three major airports and thousands of commuters were stranded for two hours or more.
Wind and heavy rain toppled trees onto cars and streets, caused scattered power outages and left some shops shuttered and businesses struggling with shortages of workers.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said officers had to use crowd-control tactics to keep the peace. Groups of officers directed commuters from subway stations where trains weren't running and at bus stops jammed with people jostling to get on board.
A woman who got stuck in an underpass was killed when her car was struck by another vehicle, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. The mayor said buildings were damaged in parts of Brooklyn, including a roof ripped off a church.
'Instantaneous decision to bolt'
"I don't know that God had rush hour in mind when the storms hit," Bloomberg said at news conference in a Brooklyn neighbourhood where the National Weather Service was trying to determine whether a tornado had struck.
The US Coast Guard rescued six boaters from New York and Israel who spent more than a dozen hours adrift in heavy fog off eastern Long Island. The boaters, who range in age from 22 to 25, were in good condition and did not require hospitalisation.
All subway lines in New York experienced delays or diversions, and some rail lines to Grand Central Terminal and some rail routes from New Jersey into Manhattan were shut down for more than an hour.
The rains also forced CBS television's The Early Show, a morning news show, to relocate to another studio after less than 40 minutes, as water poured through the ceiling.
"We made an almost instantaneous decision to bolt," said Michael Bass, the show's senior executive producer.
Elsewhere, 10cm of rain fell in an hour in parts of Nebraska. Authorities in Surprise, 113km west of Omaha, reported the Big Blue River had overflowed and fish were swimming in the water flowing on state Highway 12.
- AP
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