
On Thu, 28 June 2001, "Daniel Golding" wrote:
> Very little in Florida is much above sea level, especially in coastal areas.
> 32 feet is plenty to avoid flooding, and the building is extremely solid,
> and is certainly capable of surviving a storm surge. Of course, the many
> structures in between the NAP and the beach would help with that as well.
> It's not like the facility is actually on the beach. It's about two blocks
> from the Miami Arena.

I had equipment co-located in Florida during Hurricane Andrew.  I didn't
loose connectivity throughout the entire storm.  The problem with having
the well constructed building, great communications facilities and a backup
generator?  FEMA took over the building for about three weeks to use as
their county emergency operations center.  It makes sense, but I didn't
think to check if the public library building was also a designated
emergency shelter.

Building a NAP is much like outrunning a bear, you don't have to be
the fastest runner.  Just faster than the other guy.

It upsets the accountants, but there is not a fixed standard for NAPs.
Locating the first NAP in a parking garage may not have been a problem.
During its life-time, I never heard of a single problem at MAE-East due
to it being located in a parking garage.  All the problems could have
occurred anywhere it was located. But as other people improved their
exchange points, the bar was raised for everyone.

As long as all the other NAPs in Florida are lower than 32 feet, it
doesn't matter.  If not, we'll get to add to the list of underwater
"carrier-grade" facilities like Rochelle Park, NJ and East Houston, TX.



