NYC Department Of Health In-plant Flooded From Hurricane Sandy

With Hurricane Sandy leaving vast areas without power for weeks, it's been difficult to get news about the fate of some New York City in-plants, but IPG just learned of another major casualty from the storm. The New York City Department of Health’s satellite print center in Brooklyn was completely flooded during the storm.

"They were saying it had close to 12 feet of water in there," reports Nick Monello, director of the Health Department's Reproduction Unit, which also includes two facilities in Manhattan. "So much damage. Not just the print shop, the whole distribution [center]. Everything got ruined."

The operation, shown in a 2009 IPG video, contains a five-color Ryobi 750 perfector press, a Presstek Dimension 412 CTP system, a Standard Horizon collator/stitcher/folder, and a Heidelberg KAMA TS 74 die cut embosser along with other folding and cutting equipment. What's more, it is the site where all paper deliveries are made.

"I just got a delivery that Friday," laments Monello—a $95,000 delivery, he adds. In all, he estimates the flooded facility contained nearly $3 million worth of paper. "What a disaster," he says.

He and his staff were set to visit the in-plant for the first time on Wednesday. They were not allowed to enter it for the past two and a half weeks due to contamination concerns, as the facility is across the street from a sewage treatment plant, which also flooded.

As reported in IPG, the Health Department's Reproduction Unit has installed an astonishing amount of new equipment in recent years, funded in part by federal bio terrorism grant money. Ironically, the Brooklyn facility was opened as a backup in case anything happened to the Manhattan operations.

"We were one of the best agencies in the city," remarks Monello, who has been in charge of the in-plant for 27 years. "Now I've got nothing."