Over a 36-hour period on the weekend of January 23-24 winter storm Jonas dumped 27 inches of snow on New York City and the surrounding area. Residents experienced historic blizzard conditions with winds gusting to 60 miles per hour, as airlines cancelled more than 13,000 flights and millions of residents along the Eastern Seaboard were stuck at home because of impassable roads and highways.
For many New Yorkers, the Blizzard of 2016 conjured images of Super Storm Sandy three years earlier, with its full lunar high tides and coastal flooding driven by gale-force winds.
Once again, Sabey Data Centers’ SDC Manhattan facility stood tall and unscathed as Mother Nature tried her best to shut the city down. Did SDC Manhattan and its mission critical data center customers miraculously dodge Jonas’s winter blasts? The real story is that the building at 375 Pearl Street was planned from the start and sited to withstand a Hundred Year Storm – that’s one of the reasons why Sabey Data Centers owns the building where leading companies who want to be in Manhattan keep their critical infrastructure.
By design, SDC Manhattan can prevail through a 50′ storm surge – or even higher — which would put most of Manhattan Island’s streets under water. There was no water intrusion from Jonas, or through the façade from any wind driven snow. The data center’s new emergency generator plant wasn’t needed, but if it had been called up, 375 Pearl Street holds enough backup diesel fuel to support several days of full operations.
‘Having it and not needing it is far better than needing it and not having it’ said John Sabey, President of Sabey Data Center Properties.
Sabey’s in-house design team planned early in the design process for SDC Manhattan to mitigate the effects of similar events and optimize and enhance the property’s original robust design. Sabey commented, “Staying up during Sandy, and most recently, Jonas without interruption should give our present and future data center clients the unsurpassed and unique level of comfort of choosing Manhattan not only for their business, but their critical business infrastructure.”
To schedule a walkthrough of this resilient property please contact Sabey Data Centers.
