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Trains ground to a halt in waist-high rainwater.

As Tropical Storm Elsa, formerly Hurricane Elsa, creeps up the east coast of the United States, northeastern states and the cities therein have begun to experience runoff rainstorms prior to Elsa’s actually arrival. One city that was hit especially hard by these storms was New York City, which saw thunderstorm-induced flash floods in the subway systems of Manhattan and the Bronx. Water began pooling in the stations, as well as on the roads above, grinding traffic and transit to a halt.

In the underground subway stations, the water reached waist-high levels of 3 to 3.5 inches. Video taken of No. 1 station on West 157th Street in Manhattan shows several subway passengers, desperate to get on the train, attempting to ford the flooded halls. Several passengers waded into the water unprotected, while others attempted to hop forward with their legs protected by large garbage bags.

Sarah Feinberg, interim president of New York City Transit, has dispatched transit crews to drain out the water. “Drains are working remarkably well,” she said in a tweet.

New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams chimed in on his own Twitter, blaming the flooding on “bad spending decisions for decades” and called for “green infrastructure to absorb flash storm runoff.”

As of writing, the bulk of the storm is passing over the northeastern United States, so it may be some time before the Subways are completely dried out.