Traffic & Transit

SEE: Subway Flood Nearly Knocks Straphanger Onto Tracks

Rushing water broke through a wall at a Queens subway station, knocking one rider onto his back, video shows.

NEW YORK — Might as well be on Splash Mountain. Rushing water burst onto a Queens subway platform from a construction site Wednesday night, nearly knocking a straphanger into a moving train, according to the MTA and video of the incident.

The deluge broke through a plywood wall separating a residential development from the Court Square-23rd Street station in Long Island City as thunderstorms pounded the city, MTA spokesman Shams Tarek said.

The powerful flood appeared to knock a waiting rider onto his back and push him toward a train pulling into the station, video footage from the scene shows. The soaked straphanger found some stability by getting up onto his knees.

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The MTA blamed the rider's terrifying bath on a contractor working on the adjacent skyscraper who left the construction site without a proper drainage system.

"This was an absolutely unacceptable and avoidable incident caused by a contractor working on a residential development project that could have put lives at risk," Tarek said in a statement Thursday. "We have already begun taking steps to make sure the developer and contractor are held accountable and this doesn’t happen again."

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The water did not cause any injuries or disrupt subway service, according to Tarek.

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A video clip of the flood surfaced Thursday morning on the popular Subway Creatures Instagram account, where it racked up more than 200,000 views in less than half an hour.

The footage shocked city officials, who demanded that the MTA address the situation. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson called the video "insanely scary and dangerous."

"This is horrifying!" Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, a Democrat representing Long Island City, said on Twitter. "@MTA must inspect & secure the construction at the Court Square station before someone gets hurt. This should have never happened!"

The flooded stop bumps up against the construction site for the Skyline Tower, a 67-story skyscraper expected to house 802 condos. United Construction and Development is the project's developer, and a sign at the site shows the responsible contractor is John Civetta & Sons.

Local state Assembly Member Catherine Nolan called on the city's Department of Buildings to shut down the construction site and said the contractor should be fined.

"Obviously what happened at court square is unacceptable and dangerous (sic)," Nolan, a Democrat, said in a Thursday afternoon Facebook post. "I call on Mayor de Blasio to instruct the Department of Buildings to shut down the developer of this site and shut down this construction site."

A person who answered the phone at United Construction's office earlier Thursday said the firm was only a partner in the project, but could not direct Patch to other companies involved. Officials with John Civetta & Sons could not immediately be reached for comment. The Buildings Department was not immediately able to comment on Nolan's statement.

New York City Transit staff responded to the station immediately Wednesday night after a rider reported water inside at about 7:50 p.m., Tarek said. The agency found the developer had removed utilities from the construction site and did not have a proper pumping system in place, leading to the buildup of rain water that overwhelmed the station, he said.

The contractor agreed to put the pumping system back in, build a new wall and dam at the work site and place more personnel there during storms, Tarek said. The MTA will also have extra staffers there to keep an eye on the project when storms hit, he said.

One straphanger, Christine Callie, said the work at the station has made it prone to flooding.

"I'd like to know what you're going to do about it, because that man was about a foot away from dying," Callie said on Twitter.

Wednesday's torrent came as powerful thunderstorms battered the city, knocking out power for hundreds of customers in Astoria.

The rapids were an extreme example of the flooding that commonly hits subway stations during heavy rain. Showers above ground have been known to create waterfalls and large puddles within the subway system and sometimes disrupt service.

The MTA has tried to dry out the system with its $836 million Subway Action plan, to which transit officials attribute improvements in subway service. Outside workers have sealed more than 4,000 leaks to stop water from causing power and signal problems, track deterioration and other issues, the MTA said in January.

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