Communications Status Report for Areas Impacted by Hurricane Ida August 31, 2021 The following is a report on the status of communications services in geographic areas impacted by Hurricane Ida as of August 31, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. EDT. This report incorporates network outage data submitted by communications providers to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS). Note that the operational status of communications services during a disaster may evolve rapidly, and this report represents a snapshot in time. The following counties are in the current geographic area that is part of DIRS (the “disaster area”) for today’s report. Alabama: Baldwin, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe, Washington. Louisiana: Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Point Coupee, St, Martin, St, Mary, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Vermillion, Washington, West Baton Rouge, West Feliciana. Mississippi: Adams, Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clay, Coahoma, Copiah, DeSoto, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lamar, Lee, Leflore, Lincoln, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Panola, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Sharkey, Stone, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union, Walthall, Warren, Washington, Webster, Wilkinson, Yalobusha, Yazoo. 1 911 Services The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) learns the status of each Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) through the filings of 911 Service Providers in DIRS, reporting to the FCC’s Public Safety Support Center, coordination with state 911 Administrators and, if necessary, direct contact with individual PSAPs. Alabama: No PSAPs are reported as being affected. Louisiana: • Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, Tangipahoa Parish Comm, and West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office are reported as down. • St. Mary’s Parish has re-routed 911 calls to other telephone lines with no location information. • St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office has re-routed 911 calls to another PSAP with location information. • St. Bernard’s Fire, St. Bernard’s Sheriff’s Office, St. Charles County LA, and Terrebonne Parish Comm have re-routed 911 calls to the administrative lines without location information. Mississippi: No PSAPs are reported as being affected. The following chart shows the trend in the effects on PSAPs since the storm’s landfall: Wireless Services 2 The following section describes the status of wireless communications services and restoration in the disaster area. The chart below shows trends: The current status of wireless communications services and restoration by county is shown by the following map. 3 The following table provides cell sites out of service by county. 17.1% (down from 28.1% yesterday) of the cell sites in the affected area are out of service. The information shown was provided by the signatories to the Wireless Network Resiliency Framework Cooperative Agreement. Alabama Cell Cell Sites Cell Sites Out Cell Sites Affected Cell Sites Sites Percent Out Due to Due to Out Due to State Counties Served Out Out Damage Transport1 Power AL BALDWIN 329 3 0.9% 2 1 0 AL CLARKE 46 0 0.0% 0 0 0 AL CONECUH 39 0 0.0% 0 0 0 AL ESCAMBIA 55 1 1.8% 0 0 0 AL MOBILE 487 7 1.4% 0 4 3 1 These are cell sites that are out due to issues with the (typically wireline) networks that route communications traffic to and from the cell sites. 4 AL MONROE 31 0 0.0% 0 0 0 AL WASHINGTON 32 0 0.0% 0 0 0 TOTAL 1,019 11 1.1% 2 5 3 Louisiana Cell Cell Sites Cell Sites Out Cell Sites Affected Cell Sites Sites Percent Out Due to Due to Out Due to State Counties Served Out Out Damage Transport Power LA ACADIA 45 0 0.0% 0 0 0 LA ASCENSION 88 31 35.2% 0 2 29 LA ASSUMPTION 19 18 94.7% 2 2 12 LA AVOYELLES 52 0 0.0% 0 0 0 EAST BATON LA ROUGE 360 76 21.1% 9 17 49 EAST LA FELICIANA 27 2 7.4% 0 0 2 LA EVANGELINE 41 0 0.0% 0 0 0 LA IBERIA 46 1 2.2% 1 0 0 LA IBERVILLE 42 6 14.3% 0 2 4 LA JEFFERSON 289 174 60.2% 9 45 122 LA LAFAYETTE 154 0 0.0% 0 0 0 LA LAFOURCHE 78 74 94.9% 4 24 47 LA LIVINGSTON 121 62 51.2% 4 10 47 LA ORLEANS 348 182 52.3% 21 38 123 LA PLAQUEMINES 56 33 58.9% 5 9 19 LA POINTE COUPEE 25 1 4.0% 0 0 1 LA ST. MARY 56 17 30.4% 2 11 4 LA ST. BERNARD 36 10 27.8% 3 0 7 LA ST. CHARLES 41 28 68.3% 3 5 20 LA ST. HELENA 13 8 61.5% 0 2 6 LA ST. JAMES 33 16 48.5% 3 2 11 ST. JOHN THE LA BAPTIST 27 18 66.7% 1 1 16 LA ST. LANDRY 85 0 0.0% 0 0 0 LA ST. MARTIN 48 2 4.2% 0 2 0 LA ST. TAMMANY 260 123 47.3% 40 14 69 LA TANGIPAHOA 118 72 61.0% 9 8 58 LA TERREBONNE 81 81 100.0% 8 34 39 5 LA VERMILION 55 0 0.0% 0 0 0 LA WASHINGTON 55 11 20.0% 1 0 10 WEST BATON LA ROUGE 32 0 0.0% 0 0 0 WEST LA FELICIANA 28 5 17.9% 0 1 4 TOTAL 2,759 1,051 38.1% 125 229 699 Mississippi Cell Cell Sites Cell Sites Out Cell Sites Affected Cell Sites Sites Percent Out Due to Due to Out Due to State Counties Served Out Out Damage Transport Power MS ADAMS 41 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS ALCORN 34 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS AMITE 24 6 25.0% 0 0 6 MS ATTALA 19 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS BENTON 19 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS BOLIVAR 28 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS CALHOUN 19 2 10.5% 0 2 0 MS CARROLL 24 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS CHICKASAW 17 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS CHOCTAW 15 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS CLAIBORNE 12 1 8.3% 1 0 0 MS CLAY 10 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS COAHOMA 26 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS COPIAH 37 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS DESOTO 160 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS FORREST 84 1 1.2% 1 0 0 MS FRANKLIN 29 2 6.9% 1 0 1 MS GEORGE 40 1 2.5% 0 0 1 MS GREENE 34 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS GRENADA 33 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS HANCOCK 61 2 3.3% 0 2 0 MS HARRISON 208 1 0.5% 0 0 1 MS HINDS 199 1 0.5% 0 1 0 MS HOLMES 31 2 6.5% 1 0 1 MS HUMPHREYS 7 0 0.0% 0 0 0 6 MS ISSAQUENA 3 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS ITAWAMBA 28 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS JACKSON 132 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS JEFFERSON 45 2 4.4% 0 0 2 MS LAFAYETTE 83 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS LAMAR 75 2 2.7% 0 2 0 MS LEE 86 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS LEFLORE 35 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS LINCOLN 59 5 8.5% 1 2 3 MS MADISON 120 4 3.3% 1 2 1 MS MARION 25 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS MARSHALL 56 1 1.8% 1 0 0 MS MONROE 52 1 1.9% 0 1 0 MS MONTGOMERY 23 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS PANOLA 40 1 2.5% 0 1 0 MS PEARL RIVER 82 4 4.9% 0 0 4 MS PERRY 25 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS PIKE 46 8 17.4% 1 1 6 MS PONTOTOC 37 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS PRENTISS 17 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS QUITMAN 8 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS SHARKEY 11 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS STONE 19 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS SUNFLOWER 24 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS TALLAHATCHIE 19 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS TATE 35 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS TIPPAH 22 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS TISHOMINGO 19 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS TUNICA 31 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS UNION 33 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS WALTHALL 25 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS WARREN 50 1 2.0% 1 0 0 MS WASHINGTON 35 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS WEBSTER 22 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS WILKINSON 18 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS YALOBUSHA 26 0 0.0% 0 0 0 MS YAZOO 37 0 0.0% 0 0 0 TOTAL 2,714 48 1.8% 9 14 26 7 The number of cell site outages in a specific area does not necessarily correspond to the availability of wireless service to consumers in that area. See Improving the Resiliency of Mobile Wireless Communications Networks, Order, 31 FCC Rcd 13745, para. 10 (2016) (recognizing the difficulties in accurately depicting the ongoing status of a wireless provider’s service during emergencies). Wireless networks are often designed with numerous, overlapping cell sites that provide maximum capacity and continuity of service even when an individual site is inoperable. In addition, wireless providers frequently use temporary facilities such as cells- on-wheels (also known as COWs), increased power at operational sites, roaming agreements, or take other actions to maintain service to affected consumers during emergencies or other events that result in cell site outages. Cable Systems and Wireline (Combined) Cable and wireline companies reported the following number of subscribers out of service by state in the disaster area; this may include the loss of telephone, television, and/or Internet services: Alabama Louisiana Mississippi 2,427 449,407 19,224 The following chart illustrates the trends in the number of subscribers out of service by state: 8 Broadcast: Television stations status: • 27 (up from 15 yesterday) TV stations reported being operational (KATC, KBTR, KDCG, KLFY-TV, KLWB, KSHV-TV, KWBJ-CD, KWBJ-CD, KXKW, WALA-TV, WBRZ, WDAM, WDBD, WEIQ, WFNA, WGMB- TV, WHLT, WJTV, WKRG-TV, WLAE-TV, WLBT, WLOV, WNTZ-TV, WTOK-TV, WVLA-TV, WVUE-DT, WXXV-TV). • 4 (up from 2 yesterday) TV stations are reported as being out of service (KFOL, WGNO, WNOL-TV, WYES-DT). FM Radio stations status: • 31 (up from 19 yesterday) FM radio stations reported being operational (KFXZ, KLFT, KLWB, KOGM, KRVE, KSALU, KSLO, KYMK, W225CZ, WBHY, WDMS, WEZB, WFFF-FM, WFMF, WKBU, WKSO, WKZU, WLMG, WNOE, WQNZ, WQRG-LP, WQRZ-LP, WQUE-FM, WRKN, WRNO-FM, WSKK, WWL-FM, WWUU, WWUU, WYLD-FM, WYNK-FM). • 8 (up from 3 yesterday) FM stations reported being out of service (KKND, KKND, KMEZ, KVDU, W208FC, WJDR, WSSM, WZRH). AM Radio stations status: • 12 (up from 6 yesterday) AM radio stations reported being operational (KFXZ, KSLO, KVOL, WBHY, WCHJ, WFFF, WJBO, WLPR, WNAT, WODT, WWL, WWWL). • 4 (up from 2 yesterday) AM radio stations reported being out of service (WCJU, WHSY, WSHO, WYLD). Special Temporary Authority (STA)/Waivers The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may grant Special Temporary Authority (STA) to permit immediate or temporary operation of certain radio facilities during emergencies or other urgent conditions, as well as waivers to support emergency communications and service restoration. During Hurricane Ida, there has been 1 STA granted as of 11 am August 31: a verbal STA to the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System. The FCC granted waivers as follows: • ARRL emergency request for a temporary waiver to permit higher symbol rate data transmissions for Hurricane Ida traffic. • Temporary waiver to allow carriers in affected areas greater flexibility in number portability, to assist in restoring service to affected customers more quickly. • Waiver to extend the Form 477 deadline and the A110 Upfront Payment and App Resubmission deadline. 9 • Waived number aging rules to allow providers to hold disconnected numbers for more than the usual 90 days for customers who wish to temporarily disconnect service and then reconnect after recovery is complete. 10