Operators Restore Tornado-Affected Service, Prepare for Hurricanes

The FCC continues to monitor network outage reports that began coming in Wednesday, a spokesman said. The commission is in contact with telecom providers in the tornado areas regarding the status of their networks, he said. Following FCC’s standard procedure, the agency started contacting state emergency operation centers and local public safety authorities in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, Ala., to offer assistance and gain situational awareness, he said. While there’s damage, it doesn’t appear that overall communications have been greatly affected, he said. The FCC’s also monitoring restoring efforts. The agency has been preparing for the hurricane season for several months, including by participating in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s hurricane conferences, he said.

FEMA and its federal partners are working closely with state and local officials in Alabama and the other impacted states, the agency said. President Obama signed an emergency declaration for Alabama late Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Senate Commerce Committee scheduled a full committee hearing May 3 to review natural disaster preparedness and response plans. Several natural disaster preparedness bills are under consideration at the committee, including a bill by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., proposing a nationwide wireless broadband network.

In Alabama, Verizon Wireless was working with emergency personnel to deploy mobile communications stores and Cells on Wheels (COWs) to areas hardest hit by the storms, a spokeswoman said. The Verizon network is experiencing “unprecedented call volume throughout the affected areas, she said. The carrier is deploying generators to keep the network operating in areas that lost power, she said. While four towers were badly damaged and multiple sites were down in Alabama, the network team is working to resolve any issues as soon as possible, she said. Networks in Georgia also experienced outages due to storms but the impact was minimal and those isolated incidents have been resolved, she said. A handful of cell sites in Chattanooga, Tenn., were damaged and the company is working so restore service, she said. A mobile COWs is being deployed to the Catoosa County area to help offload an “extraordinarily high call volume,” she said. Additionally, a tower structure was down in southwest Virginia and a temporary structure was being erected there to accommodate the antennas, she said. The base station and equipment were undamaged and a quick resolution was expected, she said.

Sprint Nextel is moving in generators and working closely with utilities to restore cell sites in areas hit hardest by the storm, a spokeswoman said. Thursday afternoon, less than eight percent of its sites were out of service throughout the Southeast, largely due to loss of power, she said. One company-owned retail store in Huntsville, Ala., closed due to power outages, she noted. In addition to Sprint’s usual disaster response protocol, the carrier is deploying multiple satellite cell site on light truck (SatCOLTs) in the Tuscaloosa area to offer wireless voice and data to emergency and medical personnel, she said. The carrier encourages customers to text to reach out to friends and family because text messages take up less bandwidth than wireless calls and will make it easier for emergency calls to go through, she said.

Tornadoes hit TDS Telecom service territories in parts of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee throughout the day and night Wednesday, the company said. In Tennessee, some areas will be inaccessible for several days, according to the power company, said Carl Eubanks, a field services manager for TDS in Tennessee. But the operator is making good progress in areas it can reach, he said. Service has been restored to most customers in North Carolina and Georgia, he said. In some areas, widespread commercial power outages will likely require TDS to generate its own power to keep landlines operational for many days, the company said. More generators are arriving to help restore services in Alabama, said Robert Coontz, field manager in Alabama.

AT&T’s response equipment readied in the wake of a storm include mobile cell sites and mobile command centers, emergency communications vehicles, a self-sufficient base camp, hazmat equipment and supplies, technology and support trailers to offer infrastructure support and mobile heating ventilation and air conditioning, and internal and external resources for initial assessment and recovery efforts, the company said. AT&T’s standard pre-storm network preparations include adding capacity to wireless networks, testing high-capacity backup batteries, distributing extended battery life equipment and portable generators, and maintaining existing generators.

In times of crisis, local broadcasters are a reliable first informer in providing emergency weather coverage that saves lives, said NAB President Gordon Smith. He praised radio and TV stations in the Midwest and South for breaking news coverage of the tornadoes.