Isaac Storms Gulf Coast States, Telecom Impact Unclear
The storm known as Isaac evolved into a category-1 hurricane early Wednesday and continued its assault. States of emergency were declared in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. But by 3 p.m. EDT the storm weakened back into a tropical storm, but still with “life-threatening hazards,” the National Hurricane Center said. Isaac has left many power outages in its wake and plenty of communications frenzy, but little clear picture of how telecom has been affected.
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"In Louisiana, we continue to monitor our network around the clock and as the weather conditions allow, we will begin on-the-ground damage assessment and executing on any needed recovery efforts,” an AT&T spokeswoman said. “AT&T technicians across the region are mobilized and ready to take action as soon as we safely can.” It’s “hard to say” how bad damage may be while the storm still rages, she said. She described “minimal impact” in Alabama, the Florida panhandle and Mississippi. C Spire Wireless said that as of 1 p.m. Wednesday, 99 percent of its operations were functional but that nine of its cell sites were operating on backup power due to commercial outages (http://xrl.us/bnnnim). No service had been affected, the carrier said. Verizon Wireless reported “significant” power outages but “our generators are working well and with the cell site overlap, network coverage is very strong,” a spokeswoman said. Verizon Wireless service has been minimally affected in Baton Rouge and Covington, La., Jackson, Miss., and Pensacola, Fla., the spokeswoman added.
The Louisiana Public Service Commission had “no numbers currently” on the state’s possible telecom outages, a PSC spokesman told us. Mississippi had not experienced any phone problems so far, a spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday afternoon. There were about 670,000 power outages in Louisiana around 12:30 p.m., according to the Louisiana PSC spokesman, and more than 24,000 in Mississippi, according to the state’s emergency management agency. Florida experienced minimal telecom problems when Isaac first struck earlier this week (CD Aug 28 p11).
"So far phone service is one of the more dependable things,” said a spokesman for the mayor of Baton Rouge Wednesday. Phone service remained in place for Baton Rouge throughout the early parts of Wednesday but may become complicated later in the day as Isaac intensifies, he said.
No technical issues have interfered with 911, but the big challenge is ensuring people call the emergency number for the right reasons, the Baton Rouge spokesman said. Baton Rouge has set up a 311 number for non-emergency concerns, the spokesman said. It’s a “constant battle” to keep the public aware and various people have called the emergency number with non-emergency questions, he said. New Orleans has fielded 10,000 311 calls since Monday, the city’s EMS center, known as NOLA Ready, said mid-afternoon Wednesday (http://bit.ly/RnhuP7). New Orleans’ 311 service is able to handle calls in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, the organization added (http://bit.ly/Q20O2H). New Orleans residents are “absolutely” able to get through to 911 without problems, NOLA Ready told us Wednesday afternoon.
The FCC activated its disaster emergency reporting system late Tuesday. The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau described it as “a voluntary, efficient, web-based system that communications providers, including wireless, wireline, broadcast, broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol providers can use to report communications infrastructure status and situational awareness information during times of crisis” (http://xrl.us/bnnna2). The FCC will also seek to grant special temporary authorizations and other procedures necessary during Isaac, its International Bureau announced Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bnnnbe).
One underlying question is whether these states are better prepared to handle crushing storms since Hurricane Katrina, tech analyst Jeff Kagan said. “During Katrina, there were many outages and problems with both wireline and wireless services,” Kagan said. “C Spire Wireless seems to have held up best during Katrina. C Spire is headquartered in the Mississippi region. They have more cell sites and seemed to be better prepared for Katrina. Their cell sites are elevated and kept dry. Since this is their home region it makes sense they are better prepared than a national carrier.” Kagan said Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and others experienced “more trouble, but did an admirable job” and said “many were able to roam using the C Spire network” during network problems.
"C Spire Wireless is waiving the one-time activation charge and monthly service fee for Wireless Priority Service (WPS), which gives eligible emergency response agencies and personnel a higher priority network connection, as Tropical Storm Isaac takes aim at the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast,” C Spire said (http://xrl.us/bnnm44). It set up a storm page (http://xrl.us/bnndvr) and issued updates about its preparations and tips. It spotlighted two major switch centers in Mobile, Ala., and Hattiesburg, Miss., designed to endure category-5 hurricanes and “an extensive network of microwave technology that can circumvent damaged or destroyed landline systems and ensure that wireless calls can be routed to their final destination” (http://xrl.us/bnndwb). C Spire urges people to limit voice calls and allows them to access customer service through its Text CS option in addition to the storm hotline set up (http://xrl.us/bnndwj).
Other companies and organizations tried to communicate as much relevant information as possible to those in the storm’s path. “Due to the imminent arrival of Hurricane Isaac, LUS Fiber’s customer service locations at City Hall and Pinhook at Kaliste Saloom are closed today,” LUS Fiber told its users in Lafayette, La., Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnnm7z). Its customer service line isn’t taking calls but people can report outages to 99-FIBER, it said. FEMA alerted people early Wednesday that Isaac may leave phone lines “congested” and encouraged contacting friends and family through texting or social media channels(http://bit.ly/PQKiAB).