North American Network Operators Group
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Hurricane season starts June 1: Carriers harden networks

  • From: Sean Donelan
  • Date: Tue May 27 17:18:11 2008 

<http://www.gcn.com/print/27_12/46335-1.html>
[...]
  The most common threat to communications during a severe storm is not
  destruction of physical infrastructure but loss of power. Individual
  cell sites tend to survive high winds and flooding, Walsh said.

"That is a testament to the site planning" for the towers, she said.
"That's why we focus on backup power." [...]
"Our expectation is that backup will last long enough to get power back
up," Walsh said. "Most outages are of a relatively short duration." But
there are times when outages can outlast generators' reserve batteries
or fuel supplies, and service then depends on getting more fuel into
the stricken areas. If roads are not passable, service could be lost
during an extended outage.


The official spokespeople don't mention it, but there is also a tendency for local officials to divert fuel delivery trucks for their use instead
of maintaining communication facilities.