
MANHATTAN — NYU Langone Medical Center hospital is being evacuated after a back-up generator failed, as Hurricane Sandy continued to batter New York City.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the evacuation late Monday night.
"The one thing that we had not counted on, New York University's hospital backup power, in spite of them making sure, ensuring us that it's been tested, has stopped working," he said. "And we're working with them to help move people out."
City officials said patients evacuated from the hospital would be transported to other area hospitals.
According to FDNY officials, the hospital located at 333 East 29th Street began evacuating critical patients to Mount Sinai earlier Monday night before staging a full evacuation to other area hospitals.
Bloomberg said flooding continued to plague the area near the hospital, but added he expected the rain to slow down as wind stayed strong.
More than 250,000 customers lost power in Manhattan — in addition to another 200,000 in the outer boroughs — after flooding caused major outages from East 39th Street down to the tip of Lower Manhattan, according to ConEd officials.