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NEW YORK, NY September 21, 2007 —The MTA has vowed to do a better job next time there's a major flood. The agency just released a report on the storm that almost shut down the entire system last month. WNYC's Beth Fertig has more.

REPORTER: The report said the flash flood of August 8th was not predicted. But the panel of experts from inside and outside the authority concluded the MTA still could have done a better job once the extent of the problem became clear. New York City Transit President Howard Roberts said subway riders were particularly hard hit because the station agents couldn't always tell them which lines were out.

ROBERTS: We had lags of 2 hours between events and that information getting out to the station agents.

REPORTER: The MTA is planning to spend $30 million to buy more blackberries for its workers and to improve storm water management. The MTA will also install its own Doppler radar system for tracking storms and lining up extra workers and pump equipment before a big rain. For WNYC, I'm Beth Fertig.