Telecom Companies Prepare for Possible Category 4 Hurricane Helene
State government entities and telecom companies braced Wednesday for the imminent arrival of Hurricane Helene. The powerful weather event could become a Category 4 hurricane before reaching Florida's Gulf Coast Thursday, likely damaging buildings and knocking out power in many places, said an AccuWeather advisory Wednesday.
“The impacts from Helene will be widespread -- not just confined to locations near landfall in the Florida Panhandle,” warned AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter. “Destructive wind gusts could badly damage or even destroy homes and businesses. Countless trees will likely come down in this storm not just across the Florida Panhandle but also inland through Georgia and even into western South and North Carolina leading to extended power outages.”
The FCC activated the disaster information reporting system and mandatory disaster response initiative for numerous counties in Florida, Georgia and both Carolinas facing impacts from Hurricane Helene, a public notice said Wednesday. Reports are due from communication providers starting Thursday. The FCC also issued public notices on priority communications services, FCC availability and emergency contact procedures for licensees that need special temporary authority. The Public Safety Bureau also issued a reminder for entities clearing debris and repairing utilities to avoid damaging communications infrastructure.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) Executive Director Kevin Guthrie met with utility linemen in Tampa as they prepared for possible power outages, the governor’s office said Wednesday. DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 counties in an executive order Tuesday, and voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders are in effect for multiple counties, his office said Wednesday. FDEM activated the emergency operations center (EOC) Tuesday and will oversee coordination efforts for the state's emergency response team, the governor's office said: The division is coordinating with state agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector on county requests including for generators and support personnel.
Florida Public Service Commission “staff are at the EOC and will be tracking and posting Florida electric outage info on our website” starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, a PSC spokesperson emailed earlier that day. The spokesperson noted that the PSC “holds a hurricane preparedness workshop before each storm season, where utilities provide updates on their storm hardening and communications efforts with customers and mutual aid partners.”
States of emergency were also declared in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. “The combination of several inches of rainfall and tropical storm or hurricane force wind gusts will cause trees and powerlines to come down all over Georgia, leading to extended power outages,” Georgia’s emergency management agency predicted Wednesday. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) also declared a state of emergency Wednesday. The state predicted heavy rain, flash flooding, landslides, damaging winds and even possible tornadoes. The Cooper office said that could cause power outages and “threaten life and property across the state through Saturday morning.”
Verizon said Wednesday it has available a “fleet of over 550 portable network assets, including generator-powered cell sites, drones, and a fixed-wing aircraft for aerial support” and “nearly 300 satellite-based portable network assets” as needed. “With redundancy built into critical paths and components, Verizon's network is engineered to withstand severe weather,” the carrier said: “Verizon engineers have prepared by conducting thorough checks, as well as ensuring backup systems, like batteries and generators, are operational and refueled.”
AT&T “initiated its storm preparedness plan” ahead of Helene, it said. The carrier is topping off generators with fuel at cellsites and switch facilities, testing backup batteries at cellsites, protecting its facilities against flooding and “staging emergency response and network recovery equipment in strategic locations for quick deployment following the storm.” AT&T is also preparing dedicated FirstNet deployable assets for use by public safety agencies as requested.
A Cox Communications spokesperson emailed that the cable company’s damage assessment teams are prepared to assess impacts once it’s safe to do so, while vendors also are readied to support restoration efforts. The spokesperson said pre-storm facility preparation is complete, with fuel allocations and recovery materials staged and ready. A Mediacom spokesperson, in an email, noted the company's long history of dealing with Gulf Coast hurricanes and said it is closely monitoring the storm’s path. He said its national warehouse is stocked with extra construction materials while crews are on standby to deploy to storm-damaged areas. Mediacom also has a portable Wi-Fi trailer that it deploys into hard-hit areas to provide wireless internet access to local residents and emergency responders.
The FCC Wireless Bureau Wednesday approved a waiver for Federated Wireless of rules that require environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbents in Florida in the citizens broadband radio service band from harmful interference ahead of the storm. It imposed the usual restrictions. The waiver “only applies to periods where the subject ESC sensors are unable to communicate with the Federated [spectrum access system] due to a power outage or backhaul outage,” the bureau said. The waiver expires Oct. 9 “or when commercial power and backhaul service is restored to the subject ESC sensors.”