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When Mayor Michael Bloomberg told New Yorkers Sunday 鈥測ou're going to have a tough commute in the morning," he wasn鈥檛 kidding.

Tropical storm Irene may have been downgraded from hurricane status, and the mandatory evacuation order was lifted by mid-afternoon Sunday. But the prospect for a quick return to normal for the region鈥檚 public transit system relied upon by hundreds of thousands of commuters remains less than slim.

鈥淭ransit workers were still waiting for winds to die down before they could inspect the entire system,鈥� the New York Times reported. 鈥淏ut an initial survey revealed flooded subway tracks, powerless commuter rail networks and fallen trees and branches that had rendered some rail routes impassable.鈥�

鈥淭丑别 New Haven line of the Metro-North Railroad had no power because of downed wires along its route,鈥� the newspaper reported on its website. 鈥淧arts of the Metro-North track along the surging Hudson River were flooded. Subway lines in parts of Brooklyn were also inundated. Bus service remained suspended.鈥�

Meanwhile, major airports in the region remained closed, and airline officials said they didn鈥檛 expect to begin operating until late Monday or Tuesday.

For the most part, roads, bridges, and tunnels in and around New York are in good shape, although with public transit out of commission that may only mean heavier-than-usual traffic on city streets as commuters drive to work.

A look at the Metropolitan Transit Authority鈥檚 web site tells the story.

鈥淢TA crews are reporting widespread impacts following Hurricane Irene, including track and yard flooding, downed trees and power outages across our region,鈥� the MTA reports. 鈥淟ow-lying yards and depots where trains and buses were removed were flooded. It will take time to get equipment back into position and personnel in place. In some parts of our system, especially heavily flooded areas outside of New York City, restoration of service may be a lengthier process.鈥�

In retrospect, says New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, shutting down the transit system ahead of the storm was the right decision, even though Irene turned out to have less impact than some had predicted.

鈥淚t allowed us to get a lot of the equipment off the tracks and in safe condition, so when we start the system up again it will be accelerated鈥� Gov. Cuomo told the cable channel NY1 Sunday.

Still, Cuomo acknowledges, 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 really done a thorough damage assessment yet.

鈥淲e need to look at the tunnels and see to what extent there鈥檚 been flooding, and we need to examine some of the railroad bridges,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o until we do a full damage assessment, it鈥檚 really too early to say.鈥�