Check out these insane videos of water flooding into the Queens Midtown Tunnel earlier today

Here’s a true New York nightmare: earlier today, actual water from the East River started flooding the Queens Midtown Tunnel, after a contractor accidentally drilled a hole into the roof of the structure. 

Once officials got to the scene, they immediately shut down the passageway for about 45 minutes, causing immense traffic during the midday rush hour.

Authorities reopened one lane in each direction of the tunnel around 3pm, over two hours after the hole was reportedly drilled, but residual traffic continued to cause some mayhem for a few more hours. 

“A drilling contractor, who was performing investigative work related to the design of the upcoming U.N. esplanade project – this is something that will ultimately continue the East River waterfront – was doing work in the East River, and accidentally perforated a small amount in the outside edge of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel,” said Josh Kraus, executive vice president and chief infrastructure officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, in an official statement.

The MTA announced that a temporary plug has been put into place but, according to ABC 7, “crews will come back and do a more permanent repair.” 

You can only imagine the sort of panic that the situation caused as drivers made their way through the tunnel unaware of the issue before authorities reached the area. 

Here are some of the most insane videos showing the leak from inside the shaft:

* This article was originally published here