By Joe Anuta
As thousands of homes sat powerless in the borough, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that limited service would return to the Long Island Railroad at 2 p.m., and limited subway service would be restored Thursday, though it was unclear if lines in Queens would be revived.
In Queens, 112,829 ConEdison customers were still without power as of 1 p.m. Wednesday.
LaGuardia Airport remained closed Wednesday while JFK International Airport and Newark had limited flight schedules.
Cuomo said that three of the seven East River subway tunnels had been pumped and were free of water, and that service would be restored on an incremental level as congestion increased on the city’s streets.
“There is a high volume of traffic in the city itself,” Cuomo said in a news conference. “Many of the traffic lights are still out.”
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Commissioner Joseph Lhota said that crews are working overtime to pump out flooded stations and check to ensure trains can operate properly in the tunnels.
“We are going switch by switch, signal by signal,” he said.
Bus service crawled back to life Wednesday, and was operating on a no-fare basis. Many routes were operating as close to a normal weekday schedule as possible, with commuters packing the vehicles to the brim, according to the MTA.
While the bridges leading out of Queens were reopened to cars, the Queens Midtown Tunnel remained closed due to extensive flooding, according to the MTA.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
