NYC slowly returns to normal after Irene

New Yorkers recovered Sunday from Tropical Storm Irene, whose torrential winds and rain brought the city to its knees, flooded avenues and beaches, drove thousands of people to shelters and knocked out power to thousands more.

But residents have one more challenge Monday -- getting to work.

MTA and city officials decided Saturday to shut down the entire subway system and the Long Island Rail Road for the first time in their history in advance of Irene's expected devastation.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and MTA Chairman Jay Walder announced Sunday night that subway service would resume at 6 a.m. Monday.

Restarting the subway and LIRR systems will take time, officials warned, and strong winds Sunday delayed Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers from starting to examine hundreds of miles of tracks for damage, meaning thousands of commuters could be challenged Monday.

Transit officials said riders should expect crowded trains and long waits.

"I think it's fair to say you're going to have a tough commute in the morning," Mayor Michael Bloomberg acknowledged at a news conference Sunday at police headquarters.

With no deaths or injuries in the city reported from Irene, Bloomberg said the city's zealous hurricane preparations were "exactly the right call.

"The bottom line is, we took precautions," he said.

Walder defended the transportation closings as a prudent measure to protect the equipment. "The actions we took yesterday were right," Walder said. "The yards where we relocated trains out of are yards that are under water right now."

Irene pummeled the metropolitan area through Saturday and early Sunday, dropping nearly 6.87 inches of rain on Manhattan and 6.78 inches on Brooklyn, according to meteorologist David Stark of the National Weather Service.

As of Sunday night, Con Ed said about 57,000 customers in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were still without power. No outages were reported in Manhattan.

The utility hoped to have power restored by late Tuesday, said John Miksad, senior vice president of electric operations at Con Ed.

Storm-weary city residents began streaming out of shelters at 3 p.m. Sunday when the city lifted its evacuation order. About 9,000 of the 370,000 New Yorkers who were ordered to evacuate stayed overnight in 81 city storm shelters, Bloomberg said.

But Sunday the city was getting back on its feet.

The MTA said it began restoring bus service at 4:30 p.m., first in Manhattan and the Bronx, then in Brooklyn and Queens. Staten Island was still too flooded for buses, the MTA said.

And Sunday night, the Port Authority said Kennedy and LaGuardia airports would begin reopening to arriving and departing flights Monday.

Wall Street planned a normal business day Monday, Bloomberg said.

"I'm sure most businesses will -- with some minor, quick adjustments -- get right back to keeping the economy going in the city and giving people the opportunity to share in what's great about New York," he said.

With Ted Phillips

and Emily Ngo