Persistent Rain Leads to Delays, Lost Business
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Relentless rainfall yesterday caused travel delays at all three metropolitan airports, major closures on the Staten Island Railway, and swept away foot traffic at small businesses citywide.
The rainstorm that began late Tuesday night was just beginning to slow by 6 p.m. yesterday. “It’s a good amount of rain, and we have a flood watch out in the area,” a spokesman for the National Weather Service, Joe Pollina, said.
A record 1.34 inches of rain fell in Islip, N.Y., breaking the record of 0.86 inch set in 1997. The 2.93 inches of rain in Central Park by 5 p.m. was well below Manhattan’s record rainfall for November 8 — 9.7 inches in 1977.
“I’ve had no business all day,” a hot dog vendor, Nashin Ahmed, said as he huddled next to his cart under a sagging umbrella at Broadway and Chambers Street. At 4 p.m. Mr. Ahmed decided to pack up early and call it a day. A clerk at a Tasti D-Lite store, Alam Khan, estimated that his frozen yogurt sales were down by at least 75% from the day before, and he blamed the nasty weather. Wet women pushing rain-covered baby strollers rushed past his storefront without stopping in.
“I’m definitely going to have to skip math class this evening if it keeps up. The trains are slow and it’s a huge inconvenience, ” a Pace University freshman, Harris Radoncic, said, his soggy jeans soaked up to the knees as he waited for a delayed subway train.
Weather-related delays at La Guardia, Newark International, and John F. Kennedy International airports averaged about three hours, according to an FAA spokeswoman, Arlene Murray.
Major track flooding shut down service along the Staten Island Railway between the Richmond Valley and Tottenville stations. Shuttle buses replaced trains along the waterlogged portion of the tracks. In the subways, the Franklin Avenue shuttle was running infrequently because of weather-related conditions.
Traffic throughout the city was slowed by the slick roads, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation, Craig Chin, said. DOT reported major flooding incidents on the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River and Harlem River drives, but no street closures.
A spokeswoman for Consolidated Edison reported only minimal weather-related power outages throughout the city.
