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Sandy irritations

By Charlotte Lytton 11/15/12 4:22pm

Sandy irritations

Evacuating Bellevue during the storm. (Getty)

Emergency Rooms: Many Hospitals Still at Risk from Future Storms

As if Sandy hadn’t made enough of a mess of the New York City, and particularly a number of its hospitals, a new report from the Independent Budget Office has found that 20 percent of hospital beds here are at risk of further destruction, being in or near potential flood zones. Of the city’s 62 hospitals, which have a combined capacity of 26,451 beds, five were evacuated during Superstorm Sandy, displacing more than 2,500 patients as a result.

With another eight hospitals in or adjacent to evacuation zone A, the study is a worrying indictment of how New York’s indisposed might be affected by future natural disasters if flooding as severe as that during Sandy is to happen again—as many officials, including the mayor and the governor, believe it probably will. Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/12/12 10:56am

Sandy irritations

A headache and a toothache. (Getty)

Let the One57 Crane Lawsuits Begin

As most every New Yorker can now eerily recall, just as Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the city, the crane atop One57 snapped back, nearly crashing to the street. The boom wound up holding throughout the 100-mile-per-hour winds, the incident resulted in the evacuation of hundreds of residents, businesses and hotels, most of whom could not return for more than a week.

We’ve already heard from an angry public relations executive who believes Extell should reimburse the city for the cost of monitoring the accident and evacuating the streets. Now comes the first of what may well be many lawsuits over the crane crisis at the billionaire-beloved building. Read More