Effects of Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy on Data and Communications Power Infrastructure

Inhalt:
This paper describes the effects of hurricanes Isaac and Sandy on power supply infrastructure of communication networks based on field damage assessments. These observations indicate that satisfactory performance during Hurricane Isaac may be owed in part to infrastructure improvements made after Hurricane Katrina affected the same region in 2005. However, Hurricane Sandy caused some relatively extensive outages in some critical facilities in the New York City area. Like in previously studied natural disasters, electric power grid outages were a main cause of data and communication networks disruptions in both disasters. In addition to dependency on power grids, data facilities and communication networks showed an important dependency on transportation infrastructure for diesel delivery or portable gensets deployment. It was also possible to observe that data and communication users significantly depend on reliable power at their homes or business in order to charge their cell-phones and use their computers. This issue indicates a significant paradigm change in the way communication networks availability is considered, as the conventional notion of placing the responsibility on network operators for ensuring continuous communications operations through highly available power supply may not longer be applicable in modern communications and data systems.