Metro officials said that barring another deluge of rain Monday, they expect subway service to return to normal today as workers were able to pump most of the “tens of thousands” of gallons of water from its tunnels following the weekend’s record-setting rainfalls.
Metro officials said the situation Monday — which they are calling “biblical” — could have been a lot worse. Crews worked around the clock Sunday evening into Monday morning pumping water at eight severely flooded locations.
Just two of Metro’s 86 stations — Archives-Navy Memorial and Federal Triangle — were closed at the beginning of rush hourMonday. Both were reopened by noon, but not before tens of thousands of customers saw major delays, some as long as two hours.
Shuttle bus services between affected stations also saw major delays.
“There was simply no place to put the water,” said Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel. “This was a Mother Nature-induced issue that created a ripple effect not just for us, but everyone.”
Service was eventually restored to “semi-normal” by noon, officials said, but the delays re-ignited the debate over how Metro handles emergencies.
Metro Interim General Manager Dan Tangherlini, who visited several of the affected sites early Monday morning, said he is pleased with the agency’s response to the floods but added that it is definitely a learning experience.
“What we’ve learned is there is never enough announcements we can make,” Tangherlini said. “The mix of rain and street closures created a recipe for frustration and we need to be sure people are aware of their options.”
