September 2, 2021, 3:20 p.m. CDT
We’ve extended our restoration efforts to focus on areas recently impacted by flooding and sporadic tornadoes caused by Ida in the northeast. As of this morning, we are seeing limited wireless impacts in areas where flooding was most severe in the region. Some areas are currently inaccessible due to flooding, however, our teams are working as quickly and safely as possible to make repairs and keep our customers connected. We continue to monitor any threats from Ida’s storm path and will provide additional network status updates on this page until service is restored to all areas.
We have one of the industry’s largest and most advanced disaster response programs to help keep wireless and wireline communications running during times of disaster. As we have in the past, we have installed more generators at critical cell towers and switching facilities and moved electronics essential to network operations above expected flood levels. Our teams are currently inspecting these facilities to ensure they remain secure.
Additionally, our Network Disaster Recovery (NDR) team is on standby and prepared to deploy assets if needed.
Our local and national recovery/response teams have a fleet of network recovery equipment in affected areas in the region, including:
- Mobile cell sites and mobile command centers like Cell on Wheels (COWs) and Cell on Light Trucks (COLTs)
- Emergency communications vehicles (ECVs)
- Flying Cell on Wings (Flying COWs)
- High water vehicles
- Amphibious all-terrain vehicles
- Drones
- A self-sufficient base camp: This is complete with sleeping tents, bathrooms, kitchen, laundry facilities, an on-site nurse and meals ready to eat (MREs).
- Hazmat equipment and supplies
- Technology and support trailers to provide infrastructure support and mobile heating ventilation and air conditioning
- Internal and external resources for initial assessment and recovery efforts
