Hurricane Rita targeting Texas Gulf Coast

Thu Sep 22 03:53:41 UTC 2005

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005, Richard A Steenbergen wrote:
> But if the power can't be sustained etc a lot of networks are in for a
> world of hurt. Looks like folks buying longhaul from (3) may be the best
> positioned as far as Houston goes, it looks like traffic from Atlanta and
> further north would go directly in to Dallas as a primary path.

The current hurricane forcast path continues past Houston, through central
Texas and past Dallas/Fort-Worth.  While the hurricane will weaken after
it makes landfall, the possibility of thunderstorms, tornadoes and other
destructive weather exists along its path.

As far as telelcommnications, Houston is more important than New Orleans.
And Dallas is probably more important than Houston.  But that's why you
build diversity and redundancy.

Houston is inland.  Hopefully after Allison and the Houston floods in
2001, folks have learned where to locate generators and critical
equipment.  But there is always a limit to how prepared you can
be. 24/72/168 hours of backup power?  Some Gulf Coast telecommunication
buildings were completely destroyed down to their building foundation.

But facilities can be rebuilt. People are a different story.  Remote
monitoring should keep you up to date about the facility's status, while
you re-locate your staff to a safe location.  If you want cool pictures,
leave a web camera in a window and evacuate.  Pictures aren't worth your
life.