And in the event of a major flood, the MTA will deploy heavy duty pumping trains to remove water trapped in the tunnels beneath the rivers.

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Rich families bring food and water to those on duty.

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Instead of draining away waste water, the workers on duty somehow flushed out thousands of litres of bulk whisky.

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And while Irene certainly did her share of damage, I never ended up needing those heavy-duty ponchos or that stockpile of bottled water.

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However, only hours after re-opening on 1 April 2008, two off-duty soldiers became trapped in their car after trying to drive across fast-flowing water.

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The committee recommended that encouraging sustainable development should be a primary duty of the regulator, and that the government should speed up reform of the way water was abstracted from rivers.

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