What one thing did you forget?

[alicia-w]

Cell phones usually don't work when there is no power or cell towers are gone - as what happened in Hattiesburg thanks to Katrina.

but they work just fine in the area you evacuate to... we needed it to communicate with our boss....

[skysummit]

Cell phones usually don't work when there is no power or cell towers are gone - as what happened in Hattiesburg thanks to Katrina.

I work for Verizon Wireless as an Operations Engineer. I'm proud to say we were the first back in service after Katrina. Every cell company was out of service...some because of power, but ALL because of Bell South. At Verizon, every cell tower we have has backup generators which are tested weekly. The towers will stand unless they're hit directly by a tornado, or a storm surge takes them down which is what happened along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. They can withstand winds well over 150mph.

The problem that all cell carriers experienced during Katrina is when Bell South's office went under water. All of us get our T1s through Bell, unless the sites are on a microwave network. In the days following Katrina, we immediately turned up an emergency microwave network and got our sites back up before anyone else. Most of our competitors were still down because they didn't have microwave, and they didn't have backup power.

We still have that microwave network up, but not in service at this time. We will leave it up for backup in case we need it during a catastrophe again.

Even if I didn't work for Verizon, I can honestly say I would be a customer. I was very impressed at how fast the network returned to service following the storm. Still to this day, some of our competitors are having problems.

Just like the commercial says, we are the nation's most reliable network. At first I thought it was all hype, but after being part of it, I believe in it.

So...if anyone has a VZW phone out there and is a hurricane prone area, you should feel confident that you'll have service when you need it this hurricane season!

[Lindaloo]

Cingular never lost service, not even during the storm. So it was not just Verizon.

[skysummit]

Cingular never lost service, not even during the storm. So it was not just Verizon.

Hmmm....maybe you experienced an isolated event because they are the one company who had it the worst. They are the one company who is still having problems to this date. I don't know how they were along the MGC, but in NOLA, they have big problems still....as a matter of fact, they are losing on average 400 customers per day along the entire gulf coast area.

[BayouVenteux]

Cingular never lost service, not even during the storm. So it was not just Verizon.

I'm a Cingular customer and I found that traveling around SE Louisiana in the days immediately following Katrina, it seemed that certain areas or "cels" were affected, while others weren't. I know I was unable to make or receive cellular calls in most areas anywhere south of I-10 (including at home) and just about anywhere east of Baton Rouge for about 4 or 5 days following Katrina. Nor were people from anywhere outside the area able to call in. I work up in Baton Rouge, and had no problem making any local cel calls or calls to areas outside the storm-affected region there.

Perhaps, as the poster above indicates, Cingular's service lapse in our area was due to the Bell South relays in New Orleans being compromised by the flooding. I'm just guessing, but the Baton Rouge area and southern Mississippi may not be linked to the New Orleans office, and so even with the far more severe damage along the Mississippi coast, the Cingular cel service held up during and after the storm.

[southerngale]

Cell phones usually don't work when there is no power or cell towers are gone - as what happened in Hattiesburg thanks to Katrina.

but they work just fine in the area you evacuate to... we needed it to communicate with our boss....

Not where I evacuated to, but I didn't go far enough inland.

Anyway, I have Centennial and although it was hard to get calls through and hard to receive them, I was able to make a few with a lot of patience and determination. I know there were people on here trying to call and couldn't get through, but occasionally someone did. My brother has Verizon and was stuck at the same motel as me, and he couldn't make or receive any calls. I don't think it was just that Centennial was working better, as my phone was working better than my Mom's and my sister's and they both have Centennial too. But my brother's? Fuhgedabaoudit!
However, I must say that I remember Verizon was quicker than most in NYC after 9/11, so I'm not trying to make them look bad or anything....just saying which worked better here after Rita. Of course Centennial isn't nationwide yet...

[Dionne]

Cingular cellular service went down around 11AM August 29.....I remember it well......I was speaking with my daughter in Hattiesburg......she had just informed that there were trees falling on our home down there. Over the next several weeks, service returned slowly according to your locations.

[alicia-w]

Not where I evacuated to, but I didn't go far enough inland

We have to be at least 300 miles away from home....

[Cookiely]

This year I will be planning better protection for our interior sliding glass doors. We have a Florida room that is an addition on the back of our house - you know the type, all windows and aluminum - completely impossible to board up, mainly because there is nothing to adhere the boards to - just aluminum between window panes. The sliders lead out to the Florida room fronm our dining room.

Last season we didn't board the sliders - we didn't know how until it was too late and all of the plywood was long gone (we now have additional uncut peices stored with our sealed pre-cut window boards). Halfway through the season last year it dawned on us that the sliders (aside from the garage door) were the largest threat for wind intrusion on our house, and maybe we should board those too. This year, we will be making some handy-dandy slider guards.

Also, just a note - if you are thinking of trying Plylox, it rocked as far as hanging and removing boards. As far as protection during a storm, I couldn't tell ya. The most action we got was Wilma, and noone was even expecting that one to do as much as it did in these parts...

Thanks for the info on the Plylox clips.

[Ixolib]

I forgot to build a dike around my house...

I forgot to put the cars (all four of 'em) on even HIGHER ground...

I forgot (but quickly remembered) how wonderful ones neighbors can be in times of extreme and unprecedented need...

[invictus61101]

Cingular service wasn't down for anyone in my family during/after Hurricane Rita. We are in Beaumont, TX. My brothers and father came back to this area the day after the storm and said that there were Cingular trucks with portable cell antennas or something like that. They were able to call my mom and I in Dallas just fine.

[bevgo]

I forgot to leave! My daughter would not go and would not let me take her son out. Won't happen again. She became hysterical after seeing all the damage in out area because she had endangered her child. Thank God everything turned out OK for us but it could have been very different.