Here's a couple on stories I ran across while doing some searching. This first one is a little better story surrounding the problems the NO Police had had during and after the the hurricane. This second one is a glimpse into the communications problems that NO employees had which was part of the reason there were communication problems all the way up the ladder to FEMA.

I guess I should say I was am not suprised that the communication system of the NO Police and various other city emergency staff were blacked out. It relied on a system dependant on normal operation under normal circumstances. If power goes out the system goes out. I suspect that in an emergency, I wouldn't think of making sure I had my CB radio or ham with some battery back up, thinking that cell phone in my pocket was all that was needed. Heck, its all recharged and all the emergency numbers are loaded into it.

I'm sure that this disaster will move the emergency planners have a wider system of SAT phones to operate by in emergencies. I'm gonna guess that in ten years time everyone will have a SAT phone. Still and all, it would be nice if the planners had a more rudimentary system as a back up, if only to be able to talk to those that will still be living in the dark ages of CB and ham radio, in case they want to talk to us or maybe even get an important message.

Which reminds me. I found a cool map page at the Louisana State Police Website showing evacuation routes, including contraflow maps. (It's a little late, I know.) I mention it because at the site it notes you need Adobe Acrobat 6 or 7 to view. Thankfully that's inaccurate, because I can view them with Acrobat 5.1. But what if I couldn't and my operating system isn't new enough to run Acrobat 6 or 7. What good do those maps do me then?

When planning emergency systems, one ought to think not just of havig the newest and bestest, but also having the rudimentary, tried and true systems, at least as backup.