New York City Sandy-hit hospitals to be reimbursed with FEMA funds

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A number of New York City public hospitals impacted by 2012's Superstorm Sandy will be reimbursed with at least $1.6 billion paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency program, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday. The funds will go to reimburse the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) for repairs already undertaken since Sandy, de Blasio said in an emailed statement of his remarks. The money will also fund projects to protect against future storms, such as providing hospitals with new pumps, flood-proof elevators and new flood walls, he said. Brooklyn's Coney Island Hospital, Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem, Coler Specialty Hospital on Roosevelt Island, and Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, will benefit, he said. The HHC said the funds are in addition to $142 million already received from FEMA for partial repairs and temporary flood barriers. Sandy hit New York, New Jersey and other parts of the East Coast on Oct. 29, 2012. The storm killed at least 159 people, and damaged or destroyed more than 650,000 homes. (Reporting by Megan Davies; Editing by Leslie Adler)