Sandy-Destroyed South Beach Psychiatric Center Close to Opening New, Stronger Facility

Designed and built in just 21 months, a new building on the campus of the South Beach Psychiatric Center will open in the coming months after it was wiped out in Hurricane Sandy. The new structure is designed to withstand even the most ferocious storm. NY1s Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.

The surveillance video above captured water bursting through the basement of the South Beach Psychiatric Center moments before Hurricane Sandy hit.

The water moved with such force that it broke through two doors held shut with dead-bolt locks. The fast-moving flood rose more than 12 feet before it soaked the camera and ended the recording.

"It was devastating. I didn't think that we were going to recover from it, said Robert Giammarino of the center.

More than 300 clients living at the center were evacuated before the storm hit.

When workers returned to survey the damage the next day, they discovered its electrical, heating and cooling systems were destroyed.

It took three weeks to do enough repairs to make the campus resident-ready again, using makeshift kitchens and backup generators.

But now, two years after the storm, the state office of mental health is showing off a new, stronger, more resilient facilities space, called the central services building, or CSB.

Its first floor is 20 feet above sea level, the second, 35 feet.

"You have the boilers, the chillers, the electrical gear, the generators, all that critical infrastructure that was immobilized by the storm, sitting 35 feet above sea level within the confines of the building here. So it really is what's going to allow us to continue to face these storms, said Ed Killeen of the New York State Office of Mental Health.

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Sandy-Destroyed South Beach Psychiatric Center Close to Opening New, Stronger Facility