When Kenmore station flooded: A lesson for New York

The Christian Science Monitor interviews Michael Mulhern, who was director of subway operations at the MBTA in 1996 when the unexpectedly mighty Muddy River overflowed its banks, overwhelmed its tunnels and burst into Kenmore station, shutting it completely down for two months:

"When it was finally up and running it was initially far less service than commuters were used to," says Mulhern. "It took us a year to get back to full capacity. I think it will be a long time before New York's services are back to normal."

Photos of flooded New York subway tunnels.