Markets open on-time despite N.Y. flooding

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Trading at the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market began as scheduled Wednesday in spite of violent thunderstorms and flash floods that crippled New York City's transportation system in the early morning.

"No issues here," said Mirtha Medina of the NYSE Euronext (Charts).

New York subway riders listen to an annoucement made by the Metro Transit Authority.

Frustrated commuters in Columbus Circle in New York City.

Crowds line up for a bus in New York's Columbus Circle .

Nasdaq (Charts), which is an electronic market, expected few disruptions.

"As far as I'm aware, weather isn't affecting the market and it shouldn't affect the market," said Sonny McCauliff in the operations department at the Nasdaq.

"The Nasdaq is up," McCauliff said. "We have geographically separate data centers so even if something is wrong in the New Jersey-New York metro area we'd be working out of the back up center," he said.

The New York Mercantile Exchange also opened on schedule this morning, according to a spokesman.

The weather played havoc with commuters and travelers throughout the tri-state area.

The heavy rain caused flooding that disrupted service for commuter trains and the subway. PATH train service across northern New Jersey and the Newark Light Rail system was also disrupted.

Throngs of commuters spilled off sidewalks and into car lanes. Many had struggled to arrive in the city only to find their movement impeded by out-of-service trains, scarce taxis and crowded sidewalks.

Huge lines kept people waiting in the humid morning heat at bus stops.

Lincoln Tunnel traffic heading into Manhattan experienced delays of more than an hour before the passage was fully reopened just before 9 a.m. Drivers entering tunnel traffic on Route 495 from Route 3 were greeted with three-foot-deep puddles on the far right lane.

Although the exchanges are operating normally, there were unofficial reports of late employee arrivals.

Donna Thompson, a receptionist at Nasdaq's lower Manhattan-based headquarters, estimated that only a third of the staff had arrived by 9 a.m. ET.

Thompson said she had received a number of calls from employees saying they would be delayed because of subway service disruptions.

Nearly all New York-area transportation was affected by the rains.

"Due to severe flooding throughout the subway system, there are extensive delays on all subway lines," said a statement from the Metro Transit Authority (MTA). "Customers are advised when at all possible to use bus service."

New Jersey Transit buses from all locations experienced delays of 45 minutes to an hour or more depending on location. Also, bus departures from Penn Station found delays of close to an hour.

John F. Kennedy International Airport also reported delays of an hour and a half or more for some flights, while the news was bad at LaGuardia as well, where delays of more than an hour were reported.

A flood advisory in Nassau and Suffolk counties made the going rough there, while the National Weather Service went so far as to issue a brief tornado warning for parts of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau County and Somerset County in New Jersey.

John Challenger of human resources agency Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. said a disruption such as Wednesday's would slow productivity but wouldn't stop it.

"In our electronic age people can do more work on the run," he said.

"Yet there's no question there are a lot meetings missed," Challenger said, adding that the disruption put a "gap" in the 24-7 streaming video work environment.

"Just like there are these floods, there will be a flood of catching up later on today," he said.

--CNN's Susan Lisovicz and CNNMoney.com contributing writer Jeff Cox added to this story