Terror Suspects Targeted Flood Wall in NYC

Terror Suspects Targeted Flood Wall in NYC

By TOM HAYS

NEW YORK Jul 14, 2006 (AP)— A wall that suspects in a terrorist plot hoped
to destroy to unleash a catastrophic flood in lower Manhattan was quietly put
under 24-hour protection in recent weeks once details of the plot began to emerge,
two law enforcement officials said.

The suspects hoped to bring down the so-called slurry wall, which keeps the water
from the Hudson River out of the World Trade Center site, the officials told
The Associated Press Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the
scheme was still under investigation.

The slurry wall was built to surround the foundations of the twin towers when they
were being built in the late 1960s, resisting pressure from the Hudson River and
waterfront land. The wall is 3-feet thick, more than 70-feet deep and stretches
about four blocks.

Thursday, July 13, 2006 · Last updated 6:50 p.m. PT

Officials harden New York-area tunnels

By DAVID B. CARUSO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

NEW YORK -- When authorities announced last week that they had foiled a plot to bomb
commuter train tunnels under the Hudson River, they alleged that the suspects hoped
such attacks would trigger even broader destruction: a flood.

But could that really happen?

For years, security officials have worried that a powerful bomb detonated in one of New
York's underwater tunnels could send a torrent of water cascading through the city's
labyrinth of subterranean tubes, flooding the subways and drowning commuters.

Experts are skeptical that a bomb small enough to be hidden in a bag or backpack could
cause a breach in river tunnels drilled through bedrock, as many of the city's
subterranean tubes are. Train operators, however, have been spending millions to "harden"
key tunnels to protect them in case of a bomb attack.