Early Monday morning, the hospital’s basement, lower floors and elevator shafts filled with 10 to 12 feet of water and the hospital lost its power. While emergency generators kicked in, after about two hours 90 percent of that power had drained and the hospital decided to evacuate, according to the report. By Monday night, seven hospital buildings were each flooded with 10 to 12 feet of water.
Hospital staff had to carry some patients, including newborns who were on respirators, down 15 flights of stairs to reach ambulances transporting patients to other hospitals. Hospital nurses had to manually squeeze a bag to keep the newborns breathing as they evacuated.
NYU Langone typically has approximately 800 patients, but it discharged hundreds over the weekend in preparation for the storm, according to the release.
As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, roughly 40 patients still needed to be evacuated.
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