Louisiana Providers Repair Service After Deadly Flood
Cable and phone companies in Louisiana said they’re working around the clock to restore service after flooding in the southern part of the state forced many people to abandon their homes. Local broadcasters stayed on air to report on flooding and raise money for recovery efforts, NAB said. The floods forced the Louisiana Public Service Commission to close its Baton Rouge headquarters. The historic flood damaged at least 40,000 homes and killed about 10 people, with 20 parishes declared federal emergency disasters, according to news reports.
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Cox Communications flew in technicians from around the country to its Acadiana and Baton Rouge service areas to aid in damage assessment and network recovery, the company said in a news release Wednesday. Cox workers gained access Tuesday to the Denham Springs equipment hub, which serves Livingston Parish, the hardest hit area in the Cox network, the company said. The hub had been underwater, but restoration has begun, it said. Cox stores in Millerville and Gonzales remain closed due to flooding, it said.
“Much of the Cox network and infrastructure has remained intact,” said Southeast Region Manager Anthony Pope. “Teams from Cox systems across the country are committed to restoring services of those impacted by outages as quickly as possible, while ensuring the safety of our employees and customers.” Cox offered a storm recovery package to customers forced to abandon their homes, allowing them to use existing email addresses and phone numbers outside their homes at no charge for up to 12 months, the company said.
AT&T crews are working to repair damage to its flooded Baton Rouge switching center, a spokeswoman said. The carrier restored service for most wireless customers by rerouting the traffic to a nearby facility, she said. “Our Network Disaster Recovery team has deployed more than 10 satellite Cell on Light Trucks (COLTs) and Emergency Communications Vehicles (ECV), plus a mobile command center, from several warehouses across the country to aid wireless service for emergency personnel and help with network capacity where needed.” The equipment is positioned around the Baton Rouge area in locations determined to most need additional cell coverage but can be moved as needed, she said. The company set up an ECV to provide public Wi-Fi at an evacuation center in Gonzales, and AT&T stores are offering charging and use of phones to anyone who comes in, she said.
The Verizon Wireless network “is performing well,” its spokeswoman said: “Our team is working around-the-clock to ensure that everyone in South Louisiana can connect as they need to and the capacity is there for that. We’ve brought in reinforcements including Cells On Wheels," COLTs, "repeaters and generators and we will continue to analyze and adjust to meet the needs of the area.” T-Mobile said it hasn’t experienced any issues. A Sprint spokeswoman said service is “performing well across Louisiana” and the company is “closely monitoring all of our sites as well as taking preventative measures to make sure service remains up for our customers.”
“Louisiana’s broadcasters have stayed on the air, even as many of them have lost their homes while reporting stories from the flooding,” an NAB spokesman said.
The PSC and other state offices in the East Baton Rouge Parish closed due to the flooding and weren't expected to open until at least Thursday, said the agency's website. The commission canceled hearings and status conferences scheduled Aug. 12-26 and extended filing deadlines from that period to Aug. 29. The commission is still compiling outage data from telecom and other utilities affected by flooding, a spokesman said. An FCC spokesperson said, "FCC staff have been monitoring the situation and [are] in communication with affected companies." As with the PSC, the federal agency didn't provide outage information.