Hurricane Sandy Projects

Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital is a 2016-bed chronic care facility on New York City’s Roosevelt Island that provides services such as rehabilitation and specialty nursing.  Four buildings at the facility were damaged during Hurricane Sandy including six electric services, which E-J replaced.  These services were installed in new locations above the flood plain as a preventative measure for the future.  E-J was awarded this Design/Build project that requiring a 78 day completion, which we brought in 7 days early.

E-J responded to an emergency call to 4 New York Plaza to survey, repair, and prepare for green sticker occupancy. All of the switchgear rooms were submerged by ocean water which left the building without power.  Manpower was provided around the clock, supplying both temporary and emergency equipment meeting every owner deadline. Following green sticker occupancy E-J was awarded a design assist project consisting of five 4,000A services, 7MW of generation consisting of diesel and turbine paralleling systems, multiple UPS systems designed as 2N with STS for tenants.

Upon arrival at Chelsea Piers, E-J (and it’s testing subcontractor), cleaned and put back in service 2-4000A service switchboards, while simultaneously evaluating and ordering replacement electrical equipment for four major electrical distribution rooms throughout the complex.  Three of these rooms were completely rebuilt, including the complete relocation of one electric room to the 2nd floor to limit the facilities exposure in the event of another flood event in the future.  In a 2nd location, a replacement 500kva transformer was installed on a 16’ high steel platform, and the remaining equipment was raised by 12”.  Lastly, E-J helped determine a location for a replacement Main Service Switchgear and 4’ high platforms were installed in the Main Service room.

E-J responded to an emergency call by New York City Housing Authority to survey and repair 29 public housing buildings in Coney Island and 70 public housing buildings in lower Manhattan, as needed. All locations experienced some type of damage due to flooding from Hurricane Sandy, including some of the switchgear rooms being submerged by ocean water which left the buildings without power. Through a coordinated effort with LIRO Group, HAKS, NYCHA, Army Corp of Engineers and E-J, generators were located to get the buildings back on temporary power to re-feed the resident apartments, boilers, elevators, trash compactors and other life safety systems.

E-J’s emergency response included the complete restoration of 2-4000A service line ups to re-energize the building.

Hurricane Sandy filled the Governors Island vent building for the Battery Tunnel with 13 stories of contaminated seawater. E-J, working with John Picone, a major NYC mechanical contractor, made emergency repairs to the pumping system to allow for the complete dewatering of the building and replacement of the dewatering capability required for the safe operation of the tunnels. The work expanded to the cleaning of electrical components and restoration of controls and instrumentation and the replacement of portions of the conduit and cable for house power, normal and emergency lighting.

The Staten Island ferry terminal experienced up to 7 feet of water on all the boat dock slips and 2-4 feet inside the maintenance level of the terminal, as a result of Hurricane Sandy.  The restoration work involved the replacement of all of the interior distribution boards with 208V and 480V distribution equipment ranging from 400 Amps to 1200 Amps.

Restoration of permanent power to 17 story Verizon building in financial district of New York City due to sever damages caused by Hurricane Sandy.  Phase I includes the relocation of all critical service and distribution equipment to above flood plain up to 2^nd floor.  The building will have enough generator power to stay fully operational on any loss of utility.  Phase III focuses on intercepting and rerouting existing feeders to the new switchgear locations on Level 2 and to expand Verizon’s Power Rooms for future growth.  E-J will also provide building maintenance throughout the duration of the project.