Dive Brief:
- The Federal Emergency Management Agency will give four flood-prone public hospitals in New York City at least $1.6 billion in federal money to protect them against future storm damage like what the facilities suffered during Hurricane Sandy.
- The money will be used to build a new storm-resistant emergency room at one hospital and flood barriers and flood-proof elevators at others.
- Congress had already approved $60 billion for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in 2013, but specific projects like these needed individual approval from FEMA and other agencies.
Dive Insight:
"This money will allow us to do the kinds of things we know are necessary for resiliency," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Many hospitals in New York have already made substantial changes to how they run things in the wake of Sandy. Bellevue has moved much of its electrical and mechanical infrastructure to higher floors to protect it from flooding, as well as expanding the reach of its generator system to its MRI and chemotherapy facilities, for example.
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