Day 3: Post-Helene Update - We’re still alive…

As crews continue working day and night to rerun all the overhead wires, and remove all of the debris from the roads and service areas, we continue to be left in the dark.
One of the things about the south is that the idea of centralized technology doesn’t exist. I spoke to the city administrator yesterday. I asked him whether or not this town and the surrounding county areas had any sort of newsfeed, or RSS feed, or any other website that can share information in one spot from the city what the status is. I was laughed off of the phone. They don’t have anything like that.
What’s funny is this town has an app that you can download from the App Store, but there’s nothing in it. The only thing you seem to be able to do with it is pay your utility bill. That app actually has a ton of potential, and a lot of integration points that can be utilized to fill a pipeline of information for people who are in trouble from the passing of a severe storm, or other natural disaster.
Once the power is restored, and this town sort of gets back on its feet, I’m going to venture over to the city offices and see if there’s any way that my company can help modernize the city in one way or another.
There’s a lot of folks here who are scared, alone, without any knowledge of what’s happening around them. The idea that some of the older folks might need help or electrical systems to power, medical appliances, or what not, is actually disturbing me.
One thing is for certain… Everybody here has a cell phone. Therefore, everybody has the ability to receive notifications from the city, not just federal emergency alerts that come through the emergency broadcast system. Looks like I’ve got some work to do next week.
Thank you for watching. 
#storm #hurricane #aftermath

[@garyfelter3639]

my prayers are with you and your family, hopefully power will be restored soon.

[@richardbizon8620]

Are you going to get a backup power system? That way you can run the fridge.