Terrifying footage of NYC’s East River leaking into Queens-Midtown tunnel points to glaring issue
A leak that sent streams of water from the East River into one of New York City’s busiest tunnels occurred after a contractor accidentally drilled through it.
Workers from Warren George, a New Jersey drilling company, drilled through the outer casing of the Queens-Midtown tunnel in early September.
The crew was stationed on a barge on the East River as part of their work to sample soil ahead of the planned construction of an esplanade along the river.
While trying to collect soil samples to determine subsurface conditions for engineers, they drilled through 50 feet of water and then another 50 feet of soil.
Unaware of the tunnel below, they managed to break through the tunnel’s cast iron lining, causing water to flow into it.
Traffic began to slow in the tunnel as vehicles made their way through the now boggy 1.2 mile tunnel
After the water was found to be coming from the river, MTA Chairman Catherine T. Sheridan ordered both sides of it closed immediately.
Footage taken from inside shows streams of water spraying from the ceiling onto passing vehicles.
Employees of the Big Apple’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which owns it, noticed the downpour and it initially seemed like a routine fix.
An initial report said officials at first believed the water came from a broken pipe on the Queens side of the tunnel.
One worker decided to taste the water with his tongue and discovered that it was salty, indicating that it came from the river above and not from the fresh water from the pipe network.
Traffic began to slow in the tunnel as vehicles made their way through the now waterlogged 1.2 mile tunnel.
After it became apparent that the water was coming from the river, Catherine T. Sheridan, president of the MTA, ordered both sides of it closed immediately.
Sixteen workers from a local construction company were then called in, five of whom hammered a wooden plug into the hole to stop the flooding.
A more permanent solution has since been implemented, with engineers designing a steel plate to cover it.
An initial report said officials at first believed the water came from a broken pipe on the Queens side of the tunnel
The boatmen then pumped grout back into the hole through a steel pipe, which when hardened formed a permanent seal.
Marouane Temimi an associate professor of engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology said he is concerned about New York’s underwater tunnels.
He told it The New York Times: ‘As a driver I always worry. A mighty river flows above my head and what I ride through is just a man-made structure. It could fail.’
Temimi added that humans have made mistakes, such as the hole in the tunnel being almost impossible to predict.
He added: “This time we were lucky. The hole could have been bigger and the damage could have been greater.”
According to the outlet, the MTA has no estimate of how much the incident cost them.