Comments

1. 

   subpatre

   September 9, 2005

   Hurricane Katrina’s effects are obviously making many Virginia emergency personnel review our own plans. Emergency operations mobilize the entire society, including government, on all levels. Too many plans don’t work because the details don’t: from bus drivers, people to assist wheelchairs, to evacuating the evacuees, etc.

   Our Sheriff’s Department gathered and sent a truckload of relief supplies to eastern Louisiana, right under the storm’s track. The arrived Monday (!) The Sheriff being a bright young lad, sent six of his top leadership with it to provide security and distribute the material.

   The deputies also had to stay there, helping local cops, until the situation stabilized. It would have been far cheaper to send other people to haul and distribute, but our deputies got an education no class can ever give, and our county’s already better prepared.

   I’m impressed: an innovative way to give needed help and get critical experience.

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2. 

   Ray Hyde

   September 9, 2005

   It is a good way to get experience. Good post.

   This is a stretch to put here, but speaking of experience and gas prices, I had a sobering experience recently. I drive a Prius Hybrid. At 52 mpg it was a marvel to drive: amazingly quiet, trouble free, and utterly seamless in shifting between gas powere, electric power and both power.

   People who don’t understand how it works still ask me if i have to plug it in (no). In congesed traffic it gets even better mileage (60 mph).

   Or, it did until recently. I put new tires on it, and did not replace them with the same brand or model. That single change dropped the mpg from 52 to 41.

   Be careful when you buy tires and research the rolling resistance they offer. Tires are frequently sold on their longevity, but in this case I could easily buy a new set of tires a few thousand miles sooner and come out ahead on gas consumed. However the difference isn’t eneough to toss the tires now, or try to sell them as used.

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3. 

   Salt Lick

   September 9, 2005

   Ray — You’d have been well served by your Prius in Mississippi. When I made my trip down, I had to rent a truck with a huge gas tank to compensate for the scarcity of gasoline down there. Gasoline started disappearing right at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. That’s over 200 miles from the coast. I took extra cans of gasoline in the truck’s bed.

   The problem was three fold — only gasoline stations with generators had the power to pump, everyone wanted to keep a full tank for emergencies, and the addition of an evacuee population to certain cities increased demand on an already very scarce supply.

   With regard to choosing not to leave when a hurricane is coming, the thing that still surprises me even now, a week and a half after Katrina hit, is I do not have telephone communication with my family in the devastated area. It’s distressing not to know how they are doing on a day to day basis.

   I’d always assumed in this age of cell-phones, etc, that we could communicate. Folks have called loved ones on cell phones to inform them they are about to die on Mt. Everest and hijacked airlines. Yet, even the cell phones aren’t working in the Katrina area. The only way I hear of how some of them are faring is when a relative from outside the stricken area drives in (from at least 3 hours away), gets news, comes back “out,” and calls me.

   It’s hard to get an open line to speak to kin even in places on the periphery of Katrina’s damage. This is apparently because the volume of calls has shot up astronomically. I’ve found calling early in the morning or late in the evening sometimes works.

   I’m not sure how you can get around this — satellite communications? But wouldn’t you need a generator to make satellite devices work? Don’t know. The point is — don’t assume you’ll be able to contact loved ones when disaster strikes.

   The best thing is just to get out of the strike zone while you can. I evacuated from New Orleans twice when I lived there, and stayed at other times because it was a huge pain in the butt to leave. It’s just not worth the risk. The problem is the path and intensity of hurricanes are incredibly unpredictable and you get jaded.

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4. 

   Steve Haner

   September 9, 2005

   I’ve been wondering for two weeks if anybody has thought to put folding cell towers on the back of a truck and drive it into areas were service is down, then run the tower off a generator. When the repairs are made to the regular towers, you fold it up and take it back to the warehouse. If there is not enough work to justify it, let the feds buy some, but I’ll bet there are enough short term outages the fleet would stay busy.

   Governor Warner? This is perfect for you and your friends.

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5. 

   subpatre

   September 9, 2005

   Cell-phone calls fail in disasters because of A) system over-load, everyone’s using them; B) cell sites destroyed, passing the load onto remaining cells; and C) no electricity, even UPS batteries only last a short while.

   A very serious concern is local/state users of cell phones. Emergency responders, especially police, are using phones as a backup/alternative to the radio. This saves money to the department in not buying radio gear; yet in disasters, the phones are the first thing to fail.

   Text messaging uses less bandwidth –on cell spectrum– than voice. Think of the difference in browsing this page and downloading an audio file of someone reading the page. So yes, messaging’s far more likely to get through a loaded system.

   Years ago (many years!) Va Beach integrated text messaging into their police radio system to save bandwidth. I’d assume it’s still there. The radios cost more, but the system will retain functionality under extreme conditions.

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6. 

   subpatre

   September 9, 2005

   Salt Lick, disasters are… disasters. Infrastructure that we take for granted fails: roads, water, sewer, electricity, and yes, communications too.

   In your area there are neighbors who may be able to help if you can’t contact some of your kin at all. Farther north, email me for contacts.

   Be aware that they will prioritize –their bandwidth’s overloaded too, but they can get through– so make a messages short and concise.

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