Most wireless communications towers were able to remain at least upright through Katrina’s wrath. Power and telecommunications facilities sustained widespread damage from water in some of the hardest-hit areas, but for the most part, the towers themselves weathered the storm and are intact.
“We have not had any damage, since most of our towers are far enough inland or west of where the major damage occurred,” said Richard Byrne, chief executive of TowerCo.
American Tower Corp. said only about 1 percent of its towers were affected by wind damage.
“There’s a lot to do. We’ve seen sites where entire shelters are just gone. We’re working diligently with the carriers to get new equipment and power to the sites,” said Ted Abrams, senior vice president of technology at American Tower.
“We’re also working with lots of telecommunications folks through the Wireless Emergency Response Team. We help rescuers in helicopters pick up weak signals from people trying to place calls for help, even 911 calls. They go out searching on a grid pattern with mobile pico cells, and when they pick up a weak signal, we help them figure out through GPS where the person is. We’ve had about 500 hits and lots of rescues.
“All of us want to do what we can to help. As technologists, we can give some stranded people a listening ear, so to speak.”
Abrams added that WERT includes technology buffs from almost every telecommunications sector and has been working around the clock to provide assistance to emergency responders.
SBA Communications Corp. said it cannot get to some of its sites in closed-off parts of New Orleans, and that its primary focus has been clearing access to its affected towers so that power and telecommunications can be restored, although that could take awhile since SBA has 140 towers in areas directly hit along the Gulf Coast.
“We are also busy filing NOTAMs (Notice to Airmen) with the FAA so that pilots don’t hit our towers,” said Kurt Bagwell, chief operating officer of SBA. “When we lost power, we lost the blinking lights that help aircraft pilots avoid flying too close to our towers.”
Radio stations also have been impacted.
“Lots of stations are cooperating with each other, sharing facilities so that they can stay on or get back on the air,” said Scott Quitadamo, director of vertical real estate at Clear Channel.
