After being devastated with floods and power outages by Hurricane Sandy, New York City faces yet another issue with its subway system inactive due to damages from the storm. The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) had all bus, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), Metro-North Rail Road and subways services shut down on Sunday at 7 pm in preparation for the storm that would wreak havoc on the cities underground transportation service.

“The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night,” claims MTA Chairman Joseph J. Lhota in a statement on the MTA homepage. “Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system, in every borough and county of the region. It has brought down trees, ripped out power and inundated tunnels, rail yards and bus depots.”

The damages to various aspects of the MTA transportation system will affect commuters who work in and around New York City. There is no reported timeline for repairs to the system.

“As of last night, seven subway tunnels under the East River flooded. Metro-North Railroad lost power from 59th Street to Croton-Harmon on the Hudson Line and to New Haven on the New Haven Line. The Long Island Rail Road evacuated its West Side Yards and suffered flooding in one East River tunnel. The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel is flooded from end to end and the Queens Midtown Tunnel also took on water and was closed. Six bus garages were disabled by high water,” explained Lhota .“We are assessing the extent of the damage and beginning the process of recovery. Our employees have shown remarkable dedication over the past few days, and I thank them on behalf of every New Yorker. In 108 years, our employees have never faced a challenge like the one that confronts us now. All of us at the MTA are committed to restoring the system as quickly as we can to help bring New York back to normal.”

Newsday reports that though the storm is over, the entire system will remain shut down throughout Tuesday. The Long Island news publication claims that it can takes hours, or even an entire day to reboot the system.

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