Extreme Weather Strands Fans at U.S. Open As Flooding Disrupts Train Service
What a nightmare
Torrential rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida caused catastrophic flooding in the New York metro area Wednesday night, submerging roadways, subway stations and ground-floor apartments. At least nine people were killed.
And yet, play at the U.S. Open in Queens continued. Some matches were postponed because the rain was so unrelenting the retractable roof on Louis Armstrong Stadium proved no match.
Out on the concourse, a beer stand careened out of control as the wind whipped.
This is what fans had to contend with as they left the stadium and ventured to the train station to try to make their way home.
And once they arrived at the station, they were faced with the daunting task of navigating a public transit system crippled by the unprecedented flooding. Service was suspended on every line of the New York subway system. The Long Island Rail Road suspended service on its Port Washington branch, which serves the National Tennis Center.
Fans who decided to wait out the weather inside Arthur Ashe—where Diego Schwartzman defeated Kevin Anderson in straight sets in a match that ended around 1 a.m.—were told not to leave due to the transportation crisis.
Jake Kring-Schreifels (who I went to college with) was one of the fans who stuck it out for the Schwartzman match. By the time the match ended, the 7 train was running again with limited service to Manhattan and he was able to catch one without waiting for too long.
“It wasn’t too bad, honestly,” he told me. “We left the last match around 1:10 a.m. and then got a 7 train around 1:45 a.m.”
Once he got into Manhattan, Kring-Schreifels saw “lots of people just camping out in the Grand Central subway stop” but was able to walk the 25 blocks home instead of having to wait for another train. Another fan, Forrest Brown, wasn’t so lucky. He wrote on Twitter that he had to walk all the way from Grand Central to Brooklyn.
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A good song
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