RT Journal
A1 Powell T, Hanfling D, Gostin LO
T1 Emergency preparedness and public health: The lessons of hurricane sandy
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 2012
FD December 26
VO 308
IS 24
SP 2569
OP 2570
DO 10.1001/jama.2012.108940
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2012.108940
AB 
Before dawn on Tuesday morning, October 30, in the midst of flooding and damaging winds from Hurricane Sandy, New York University's (NYU’s) most fragile patients, premature infants, were carried down 9 flights of stairs in the dark and transported to hospitals on dry ground.1 Although the infants arrived safely, the mid-storm evacuation of these critically ill patients was concerning. A safer daylight transfer before flooding overwhelmed southern Manhattan would have been preferable. The Veterans Affairs (VA) New York Harbor hospital evacuated patients before the storm.2 Bellevue, New York's flagship public hospital, evacuated patients in the immediate aftermath of the storm when the backup power supply failed.3- 4 These neighboring hospitals each made different decisions about when to evacuate. Across the New York City metro region, many hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities were evacuated, most of them after the storm hit, making this the central public health challenge of this calamitous event.