Severe thunderstorms cripple NYC commuting services | 08.09.2007 | 09:18:34 | Views: 6239 | ID: August 9 '07: Thousands of people were without power and city subway's were completely shut down on Wednesday morning after a series of intense thunderstorms hit the New York Metropolitan area, the New York Times reported. In addition to crippled subway lines, bus stops were over-flowing and Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials advised commuters to stay home. Following the storm, the M.T.A.'s website crashed after thousands of people tried to access its pages seeking information. The Times also reported "the region's three major airports - La Guardia, Kennedy and Newark all reported flight cancellations and delays." Regarding the M.T.A.'s webiste woes, the Times found that "It was the second time in several weeks that the website was not able to function during a transit crisis. The last one was during a minor blackout on the east side of Manhattan several weeks ago." Residents in Brooklyn and Manhattan said they saw a funnel-shaped cloud touching down in the city close to 5:30 on Wednesday morning. Later weather officials confirmed the first tornado to touch down in metro New York in history. The storm landed as an EF1 and later grew into an EF2. Meanwhile the Times reported, "the storms moved across the region from west to east, Long Island was hit by winds and rains. Flooding on the tracks at Bayside, forced the Long Island Rail Road to suspend service on it Port Washington Branch early in the rush hour as torrential downpours swept through Queens and Nassau counties."
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