N.Y. hospitals detail flood-proofing measures

A state health committee examining the impact of floods on New York hospitals learned an important lesson Thursday: Flood-mitigation measures can work.

After a devastating 2006 storm closed Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, N.Y., for several days, its management spent $21 million—most of it FEMA and insurance money—in flood-mitigation measures.

Those included installing an $8 million flood wall and 10 floodgates, adding flood-proofing devices to prevent sanitary lines from backflow, and installing submersible electric lines.

When Irene struck in 2011, the new system paid off. The gates walled off nearly 11 feet of floodwater. Though muddy waters swirled high enough to nearly cover a tractor trailer just outside the flood gates, the hospital stayed dry and fully functioning, as was seen in a picture shown at Thursday's meeting of the Public Health and Health Planning ad hoc advisory committee on environmental and construction standards.

"I think this is the photo we'll use on the cover of our report," said committee chairman Jeffrey Kraut.

The group is charged with making recommendations for state hospital construction code changes. Though Sandy was the impetus for that work, the committee considers flooding a threat throughout the state, not just in areas on the Atlantic seacoast.

After a video and slide show presentation by Wayne Mitteer, a former vice president at the Binghamton hospital, the committee said it was impressed by how well the preventive measures performed.

"It's remarkable technology," said Mr. Kraut. But the fact that the hospital made the changes on its own appears to be typical. "What we will probably end up doing is updating the code to reflect what the practice is already," he said.

Even before Sandy struck, designers and engineers working on Memorial Sloan-Kettering's plans for a $2 billion ambulatory care center on the FDR Drive at East 74th Street were planning for potential flooding, the hospital's representatives told the Public Health and Health Planning Council committee June 27.

"The issue was we knew this was close to the river already, so we were well out in front, already addressing this," said Gary Acord, executive director of facilities development at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.

As presented to the committee, the current plan includes a foundation design that includes a waterproof "bathtub" design. Another precaution is locating critical programs above the fourth floor, electrical distribution and air handling systems above the second floor, and the IT equipment on the third floor or higher.

"The only thing in our subterranean area will be parking," he said.

Mechanical flood barriers will rise vertically outside the building at the push of a button. All the measures are designed with FEMA's latest prediction that in that part of Manhattan, waters could rise to more than 13 feet. MSK consulted with experts from the Netherlands and Germany to get information on which flood barriers work best.

Three types were considered. One is portable and must be taken out of storage and put into place manually. A second type is permanently installed horizontally on the sidewalk and has hinges that let it swing up when there is a flood danger.

The type MSK chose is least vulnerable to getting clogged with debris or otherwise damaged when not in use, the committee was told. Ironically, MSK engineers said, during the storm a group of those involved in design spent a lot of time on the site. It never flooded.

Hospitals detail flood-proofing measures originally appeared on the Crain's New York Business website.