A decade after Sandy, MTA’s storm prep for NYC subways still disorganized: audit
A decade after Hurricane Sandy, the MTA’s system to prevent storms from flooding the subways remains disorganized, a report published Wednesday by the agency’s inspector general found.
The MTA spent $350 million in the years after the 2012 storm on moveable equipment designed to seal off subway entrances, sidewalk grates and other locations vulnerable to flooding. But the way the equipment is managed and deployed is haphazard — and in some cases crews don’t even know how to install the safeguards, the report found.
“Almost ten years after Hurricane Sandy, MTA has made great progress in fortifying its assets, however many opportunities remain for the MTA to improve upon its hurricane preparedness plans,” said acting MTA IG Elizabeth Keating. “Riders and NYC residents are relying on the MTA to deploy millions of dollars’ worth of flood control devices correctly and efficiently when the time comes, and a hurricane is forecast.”
The MTA has installed permanent infrastructure at train yards and in subway tunnels since Sandy, but Wednesday’s report highlights the agency’s inability to deploy tons of equipment to keep floodwater out of the system during hurricanes.
Auditors from the IG’s office found NYC Transit’s emergency plan for hurricanes requires crews to start preparing the equipment 72 hours ahead of the storm — yet found the agency was unable to install equipment used to insulate the system in that time.
The preparations include installing covers on sidewalk vents at 680 locations to keep floodwaters from inundating the subway stations. The auditors found it took an average of 28 minutes for crews to cover each vent, enough to require 317 hours of total work. The MTA Department of Subways also has roughly 50 locations where stop logs — or equipment used to seal off subway entrances and elevators — are meant to be deployed, but each one takes a crew of 11 workers a whopping 50 minutes to install, according to the IG’s office.
Even if the MTA speeds up the installation of the flood protection equipment, the report found transit officials are hampered by outdated systems. The Department of Subways “does not have an accurate count or list of all of its devices,” but expects to have them documented in a new system by the end of this year, the report said.
The report also found the MTA does not require its contractors to train crews on how to deploy the equipment — and auditors witnessed crews struggle to install a sidewalk vent cover during a mock exercise last year because they weren’t familiar with the equipment. In many cases, the contractors only give MTA employees a video explaining how the equipment works.
“This report highlights the substantive steps NYC Transit has already taken in partnership with MTA Construction & Development to address a complex, yet vital task,” said MTA spokesman Michael Cortez. “NYC Transit is uncompromisingly committed to resiliency, investing $5.8 billion to harden the transit system against coastal flooding.”
The report comes nearly a year after the remnants of Hurricane Ida battered the city with more than three inches of rain in a single hour, flooding subway tracks across the five boroughs and forcing transit officials to close the system. The storm caused more than $100 million worth of damage, transit officials estimated at the time.
