What to Know
- Some Brooklynites were stunned to see a subway station completely underwater on Wednesday
- The entire G train station at Broadway appeared submerged, with water filling the staircase leading outside
- The MTA said it did it on purpose -- as part of its efforts to test its new flood prevention equipment
New Yorkers are accustomed to bizarre subway sights, but some Brooklyn straphangers were straight out stunned to see a completely flooded station entrance on Wednesday.
The visuals were stunning -- the entire station appeared to be submerged, with water filling the staircase leading outside at the G train station on Broadway.
Twitter user Kaye Blegvad tweeted a photo of the saturated station, saying, "MTA explain yourself."
The MTA said it did it on purpose -- as part of its efforts to test its new flood prevention equipment. The transit agency wanted to see how it could stand up to future storms.
Specifically, the MTA said it was testing a new "flex gate," which is a flood barrier that would allow the agency to seal off a subway entrance in the event of a storm.
"We 'test flood' the entrance for four hours to make sure it was installed correctly, which it was!" NYCTSubway tweeted in response to Blegvad. "We're doing this because climate change is real."
This type of testing has been going on since 2017, the MTA said. If you happen to see another flooded entrance, keep in mind it's most likely just a similar test, the agency says.
