There was a huge crowd trying to get down the stairs into the 96th station. When some women walked by and yelled "There's no train service today, people!!" half the people in the middle of the stairs stopped and started looking around and axing everyone else if there was train service. I was like "Why don't you walkt down the other 10 steps and see?? Jeebus fucking rice...." The turnstiles were roped off, so everyone was pushing to get through the emergency exit door on the side. The downtown 2 was sitting on the platform with "NOT IN SERVICE" on the laserboards in the windows. After about 15 minutes the doors suddenly opened and everyone literally pushed each other to get on the train. The doors closed and then we sat there for about five minutes, jam packed. Then the doors opened again and the people who arrived on the platform after the first time we crushed into the train all decided to go against the laws of physics and push their way into the train. The train actually went very quickly to 72nd. No one got off at 72nd and then those people waiting on the platform continued to get on the train. I think it's funny that people say "Excuse me!!" as they're pushing you into the already jam-packed mass of people in the middle of the train. People started bitching at each other. The doors closed and after going a little ways down the track the train stopped. And stopped. And stopped some more. Then the conductor got on the speaker and said that no trains were going past 14th and that the train was going to stop at 42nd, 34th, and then finally stop at 14th. The train moved a bit more, and then the conductor came back on and said that the train was no longer going to 14th, it was only going to 42nd and 34th. People got confused and the fight-or-flight mode kicked in for many of them. Unfortunately most chose fight. People started arguing about what the conductor just said. I got out at 42nd and it was like an anthill that had just been kicked. People were scattering and bumping into each other and getting angry at strangers for no reason. Oh, and people were pushing to get on the train before the people on the train could get out, so it was a huge push-of-war. I waited until the people who wouldn't let us get off the train got on before I told them it was only going to 34th. There was an MTA employee on the platform and the person in front of me axed if the N and R trains were running downtown. The MTA employee said not as of five minutes ago. Figuring I had nothing to lose I went over to that platform and an N came right away and then left right away. It was making all local stops so I would get to City Hall after all, until we got to Prince. The conductor said that the train was skipping Canal and going right to City Hall, which was perfect for me. Then the conductor got back on and said that it was stopping at Canal and then no more stops until halfway through Brooklyn, so I had to walk from Canal to City Hall, which could've been worse as I saw stockbroker-looking guys all sweaty and speedwalking to Wall Street (one guy said he had walked all the way from 42nd.....)

One of my friends who also had a two-hour commute said "It's never a good sign when rain can shut down Manhattan....."