It is an image that has become all too familiar for New York City subway riders whenever it rains: Water pouring into a subway station, coming in from the ceiling and walls — even up through the drains on the ground sometimes.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said almost half of its subway stations have flooded during the last four big rainstorms to hit the city over the past few years. And now the agency is outlining its prevention plan.
In total, the MTA said 200 stations flooded during the major storms, which amounts to nearly half of all stations throughout the system. In 2023, 88 stations sustained some form of flooding, and 22 stations have been labeled as problematic and needing major upgrades.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
"This is on our radar, for stormwater flooding," said Eric Wilson, of the MTA Climate Resilience.
Flooding also wreaked havoc on Metro-North service during the storms. Earlier in January, the MTA showed a temporary fix to the problem: rubber mat trenches.
The transit agency has constantly been testing in-station drains and asking other city agencies to clear catch basins, hoping it will help with the flooding in parts. MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said he thinks those measures have bought the agency some time.
The MTA will likely ask state lawmakers for billions of dollars in the next capital plan in order to address the problem. At a board meeting on Wednesday, transit officials delivered new information about flooding as well as another major impact of climate change: rising temperatures.
A high-powered fan was blasting on a winter day inside an MTA communications room at the Wall Street station, revealing an expensive reality.
"We have to make a major investment and that includes air conditioning those rooms...it's a concern. We've got 495 communication rooms," said MTA President of Construction and Development Jamie Torres-Springer. "We are really sounding the alarm."
The reason the fan was running Wednesday inside the room that controls train radios? Even though temperatures outside were in the low 40s, it was still 93 degrees inside. MTA officials said it’s a concern when it goes above 100 degrees.
"These are old systems, you're not cooling them — we are at risk," Lieber said.
Given the growing challenges from rainstorms to heat, the MTA plans to release a new climate blueprint in March.
