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Surviving a ‘21st-century storm with 20th century’ communications technology

Phone repair truck and power pole
Courtesy
/
AT&T
Cell providers coordinate with emergency managers in counties across western North Carolina to restore coverage.

BOONE—Hurricane Helene’s floods in western North Carolina cut the region off from the rest of the world. Information about road closures, distribution centers, and police checkpoints traveled by word of mouth.

At the Earth Fare in Boone, North Carolina, customers exchange stories of rescue, recovery and tragedy. Every conversation begins with a similar refrain:

“I hope y’all and your loved ones are safe.”

When Wi-Fi returned to Boone, residents got their first look at the devastation outside of town. But that information could only tell them so much.

“A lot of people are sharing these pictures of the roads broken up online, but not sharing exact road names and locations,” said Taylor Oakey, a cashier at Earth Fare. “While those are really helpful, all these broken road pictures go around on the internet and you’re not sure the exact pinpoint location.”

Cell coverage in Boone returned faster than in many other towns. In places like Canton, Sylva and Asheville, a different story played out.

Laurel Roser was in the process of moving from Montana to Asheville when Helene hit last Friday. Her future roommate and many of her friends already lived there. She was texting her friend in Asheville when we spoke last Sunday.

“I thought the storm wasn't too bad because I had even talked on the phone with my friend who's texting me just now,” Roser said. “ I was like, ‘Oh, I guess things are fine.’”

Nine hours later, when she had finished driving, she saw videos of homes floating down rivers and TikToks of floodwaters carrying cars down streets. Roser immediately reached out, but she couldn’t get through. She sent texts with information she heard from a friend of a friend, giving directions to Wi-Fi. They didn’t connect again until Saturday afternoon.

Sarah Padyk lives in Durham, North Carolina. Her father sent her a video from Sylva — a small town outside of Waynesville — around 11:30 a.m. on Friday.

“It was flooding I had never seen before in my lifetime, since I was born in raised in Sylva,” Padyk said.

After that, she didn’t hear from her parents for 24 hours. When they finally did get a signal, it was only along a small section of highway near town.

“It was like a 15-second phone call,” Padyk said. “It was just, ‘Hey, I love you. We're okay. Dogs are OK. Don’t know when we’re going to be able to call again.’”

Since the storm, at any given moment, you could find a line of cars pulled over with their hazard lights on along that stretch of highway, trying to catch a bar of service.

Even with spotty coverage, Padyk got to work. She started researching conditions in other towns, road closures and emergency aid.

Roser, Padyk and others I talked to fell into a similar role. They were the eye in the sky for their loved ones, providing information about road closures, internet access and neighboring towns through piecemeal phone calls. Cell service and the internet matter more than ever, as most people have ditched landlines and fewer use radios.

But how did this happen? In some respects, the answer is easy. The power went out. Hurricane Helene toppled powerlines — over 400,000 are still waiting on power. In the most flooded areas, it may take months to repair damaged substations. Cell towers have backup power, but the fiber optic lines connecting some were damaged, or the generators and batteries were, or the towers washed away.

But that answer hasn’t satisfied everybody.

“We are facing a 21st-century storm with 20th-century technology,” said Zeb Smathers, mayor of Canton, a small town 30 minutes west of Asheville.

“It has hindered everything: search and rescue, recovery, communication. I'm still getting messages from loved ones looking for their loved ones, not only Canton but the region, because they can't place a phone call.”

WFAE reached out to him Wednesday night, and he said cell phone service is slowly returning to Haywood County — but not because cell towers are up and running. The federal government deployed 67 Starlink satellites, like the one he was using from the police department.

There’s something surreal about this juxtaposition of old and new technology. While satellites beam down messages from loved ones, pack mules carry supplies up mountains to hollers where roads are impassable to cars.

WFAE reached out to Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and AT&T — three providers that cover western North Carolina, including Canton. Smathers said that if a town like Canton could make preparations for the storm, then so could big cell providers.

Workers clearing trees
Courtesy
/
T-Mobile
Sawyers cut a path to cell infrastructure to restore service in western North Carolina.

In a written statement to WFAE, an AT&T spokesperson said 16% of affected cell sites remain under repair in the Southeast. Their team had gathered repair equipment before the storm, and said AT&T had restored wireless service on Saturday.

All three organizations have been sharing live updates on their respective sites.

Stacy Tindell, emergency management director at T-Mobile, said the company had been monitoring the storm a week before it made landfall.

“I don’t know that anybody could have predicted the level of devastation that western North Carolina has seen,” Tindell said. “So, I don’t want to imply that we knew it was going to be as bad as it is.”

When the forecast predicted heavy rains and landslides in western North Carolina, T-Mobile checked their onsite generators and implemented the company’s emergency plans.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” Tindell said. “I anticipate we’ll be out there refueling generators for weeks.”

Cell towers might not be fully operational in western North Carolina for a while, and new problems will arise as existing generators in hard-to-reach areas run out of fuel. But when Smathers finally connected to the internet, he did get one message from his provider.

“I did receive a bill,” Smathers said. “Verizon Wireless did send me a cell phone bill by text a few days ago, which I thought was a nice touch. You can send me a bill. You can turn the cell phone on for myself and others.”

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Zachary Turner is a climate reporter and author of the WFAE Climate News newsletter. He freelanced for radio and digital print, reporting on environmental issues in North Carolina.