DETROIT—At least two metro Detroit hospitals were forced to move patients Monday evening as floodwaters began seeping into lower levels and a third hospital sent staff out to buy food for patients after up to a foot of water collected in its basement, which houses food storage.
Some emergency departments also were forced to redirect patients as the pounding rains continued into the evening Monday.
Oakwood Hospital-Dearborn has “significant damage” to its basement, forcing it to close down food service at least temporarily. It also had to send ambulances elsewhere, said spokesman Scott Spielman.
Staff made a middle-of-the-night run to Meijer to buy continental-type food — muffins and bagels, for example — for patients for breakfast, and the hospital was forced to cater lunch, he said.
Insurance officials had not arrived to assess damage this afternoon, but Spielman said it most likely will take several days to renovate.