Chaos as Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital is evacuated amid mass flooding
- The hospital lost power when Sandy struck and has not had full power since the super storm
- 150 members of the National Guard took part in the evacuation
- Millions of gallons had flooded the hospital basement
- Soldiers and rescue workers had to bring children and patients to safety
The National Guard was called to help evacuate hundreds of patients and staff from New York’s Bellevue Hospital on Wednesday as the flooded medical center in Manhattan struggled to function during the power outage.
The public hospital lost power Monday as Hurricane Sandy struck, and power was patchy as the facility relied on generators. Members of the Army National Guard hiked to the hospital’s roof with fuel throughout the week to power the generators.
According to local media reports, a chaotic rescue scene unfolded on Wednesday as medical staff carried infants down the stairs and soldiers carried patients out on stretchers, while the strong smell of fuel filled the air and emergency lights illuminated the rescue crews at times.
Messy: Hundreds of patients and staff were evacuated from Bellevue Hospital as the facility struggled to function during the blackout that continued to ravage New York City
Urgent transfer: The most critical patients have been transferred to nearby medical centers and other patients have been discharged
“It’s Katrina-esque in there,” said a Bellevue nurse abc news about the conditions.
One hundred and fifty members of the National Guard were helping rescue efforts Wednesday, moving the most critical patients to nearby medical centers, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Millions of gallons of water had flooded into the basement of the hospital, which is located near the East River at 1st Avenue and 27th Street.
Always ready, always there: The National Guard was on hand to carry patients out of the flooded medical center in Lower Manhattan
Bellevue is the second Manhattan hospital to be forced to evacuate patients after the superstorm. NYU’s Langone Medical Center had to move patients because the hospital’s backup generators failed to turn on when the building lost power Monday night as the storm battered the east coast.
