NYU Langone Health is a top-ranked hospital system, with a seven-building campus along New York City’s East River.
In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck along the East Coast, becoming one of the most destructive storms in U.S. history. Sandy drove powerful storm surge into New York City, flooding neighborhoods, transportation systems, utilities, and other critical infrastructure. Lower Manhattan and areas along the East River experienced widespread power outages, billions of dollars in damage, and significant disruptions that affected hospitals, businesses, and residents for weeks.
NYU Langone Health was among the hardest hit. They sustained extensive flood damage to the underground portion of their campus, which was completely submerged in floodwater. As a result, the Office of Real Estate Development and Facilities for the campus devised a comprehensive strategy to enhance resilience that significantly safeguards both patients and staff.
With the lessons of Hurricane Sandy in mind, the project team designed a perimeter flood barrier system with operable floodgates that would protect the campus from future storms while allowing pedestrian and vehicular access during daily operations. These flood barriers would have to protect against the 500-year return period storm surge and expected sea level rise. Additionally, the floodgate protecting Smilow would have to withstand a 35 kip impact load.
NYU Langone selected FloodBreak passive automatic flood barriers to protect the 4 critical openings. With no height or length limitation, the FloodBreak gates were custom-engineered to withstand a 14-foot storm surge and Coastal A load requirements. Permanently installed and hidden underground, the flood barriers provide 24/7 protection while allowing daily operations to continue, including the large volume of delivery vehicles that supply critical supplies and equipment for the Langone campus.
The 4 flood barriers are fully passive and automatic, so they will deploy automatically without relying on people or power.
The NYU Langone flood gates were also equipped with a push-button lift system, which allows personnel to raise the flood barriers quickly and easily for standard operating procedures and scheduled maintenance. This is an important part of their flood resiliency plan. The ability to quickly raise and lower their flood gates enables them to perform their annual preventative maintenance with minimal disruption. And since the lift system can be operated by a single untrained operator, facilities personnel don’t have to schedule long closures or large mobilizations.
With FloodBreak’s passive flood protection technology, NYU Langone strengthened its campus resilience and is confident that it is prepared for future storms without daily operations being interrupted
We are proud to protect critical healthcare facilities around the world, including NYU Langone Health, the nearby VA Medical Center, Guthrie Lourdes Hospital, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.
For more information on the flood mitigation design and flood strategy at NYU Langone, here are project details from Thornton Tomasetti.
