Can you imagine going from a normal world one day where you can pick up the phone and get in touch with family, friends, whomever to the next day where everything is disconnected? It’s unreal and unsettling. Evacuating for the hurricane was bad enough but being unable to communicate was a real nightmare!
In the days immediately after the storm, I was unable to find both of my children and their families. I knew that they were safe because they had evacuated but I could not reach them. My daughter and family had evacuated to Shreveport, La., and my son and family to Canton, Miss. Our cell service proved inoperable in placing calls within Mississippi or Louisiana due to the storm. Finally we figured out how to call my stepson in South Carolina who was able to reach them. Ironically, he could not call us back so we had call him back for relayed messages. Even then the phone lines were often busy. It was almost a week later before I could hear their voices and learn what happened to them.
This was the story for everyone in the aftermath of Katrina. Trying to reach love ones was extremely frustrating. We could reach people in other parts of the country but not here in our state or area.
Our city and county officials were frustrated and hampered as well. None of the disaster plans anticipated the total, widespread destruction and the loss of all normal means of communication. This was unimaginable … in America … in 2005.
Before Katrina, we had an arts roster of 200 plus names with street addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers. After Katrina struck, this roster proved useless.
Homes and studios were destroyed, which meant regular phone lines were out. Ditto for e-mail. Postal service was suspended for weeks. To compensate, most everyone bought cell phones, which only compounded the problem since many cell towers were damaged as well. In the early weeks, “system busy” was the most common response when trying to place a call.
Hurricane Katrina was the most devastating natural disaster in our nation’s history and it clearly demonstrated how dependent we all are on communication.
Next time, I’ll describe how we began to try and find our artists who had scattered to safe places.
The cars of Katrina
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Also no local radio, and tv. It was a few days before a local radio station could broadcast for a total of 3 or 4 hours per day. If people had battery powered TV's they could watch the a very distant channel. Luckily I had a scanner which I could run off of a 6 volt batter to get an idea of what was going on in the county (Pike}. We had to call one of our daughters in NYC to pass messages to the other daughter in Bay St. Louis. The end result of the loss of communications having to chase rumors for ice, water, food, shelter, everything. And for any fool who doesn't think that ice is important in todays food distribution system, check your food pantry and see how many days you will last..with no grocery stores open.
Leroy Brister, McComb, MS (Sent Nov 29, 2005 9:27:30 PM)
TEXT messaging is the way to go in this situation. Cell calls would not go -- when systems were up they were usually overloaded and calls could not go out. Me and my loved one discovered early on that text messaging was the way to go with cell phone communications during this difficult time. Also debit cards and lots of cash, both, may prove quite valuable, especially, at the gas pumps. Provided they are operating and have gas to sell you. Which is an entirely different issue.
Linda Seal, Bay St Louis, Mississippi (Sent Nov 30, 2005 5:22:47 PM)
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