The MTA made a splash when it filled the entrance of a subway station to the brim with water to test out a new flood-proofing plan.
The Broadway station entrance in Williamsburg looked more like a kiddie pool than a transit hub for a few hours on Wednesday — due to a water blocking device, dubbed a “flex-gate” — which baffled straphangers.
“MTA explain yourself,” passerby Kaye Blegvad tweeted at the agency, along with a photo of the water-logged station.
The agency’s social media team first quipped, “We’re pivoting to submarines” — before explaining the test-run is part of a plan to combat climate change.
“But actually, we were testing a new ‘flex gate,’ which is a flood barrier that would allow us to seal off a subway entrance. We ‘test flood’ the entrance for four hours to make sure it was installed correctly, which it was!” it tweeted.
During major storms, MTA workers can unroll the gate and secure it against a metal lip, which runs along the edge of a subway stairwell opening, to keep water from rushing into the underground.
During Superstorm Sandy, flood waters ravaged many subway stations and tunnels — leading to a years-long, $7.7 billion effort to fix the damage.
The MTA is still working to finish some of the repairs and flood-proof the system. Seven of the nine tunnels flooded during Sandy have been restored, with work on another already underway.
These “flex gates” — like the one at the Broadway G stop — will keep water out and limit damage from future storms.
The agency has installed “around 70” of them citywide, spokesman Shams Tarek said.
City and state agencies have launched a series of efforts to better protect flood-vulnerable neighborhoods across the five boroughs from the higher seas and more powerful storms that are expected as the planet warms.
Last month, MTA officials showed off coastal resiliency efforts at the Coney Island Yard, including an elevated cable bridge that keeps the facility’s power supply out of reach of potential floods.
