A Reborn Network for a Reborn City- Engineering the Restoration by

Robert Suarez, P.E.September 26, 2006

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath

• New Orleans Devastation– September, 2005

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath

• New Orleans Devastation– September, 2005

Areas of Major Devastation

• Lower 9th Ward – Orleans Parish

• Chalmette – St. Bernard Parish

Areas Not Re-populated

Orleans Parish• Plans for rebuilding are unclear• Latest recommendation by FEMA requires the elevation of

residential dwellings raised 3 to 8 feet

Damage Assessment – New Orleans

Assessment of NetworkCentral Offices

Destroyed

Lake Catherine

Pt-A-La-Hache

Delacroix

Yscloskey

St Bernard

Damage Assessment – New Orleans

Outside Plant Network Damages

• 1.9 Million Sheath Ft Underground Feeder Cables damaged beyond repair due to flooding affecting approximately 140,000 access lines in the following wire centers: Mid City, Lake, Seabrook, Franklin, Chalmette, Broadmoor and Carrollton

• Aerial spans down >2250 Spans• Poles down >1,600• Interfaces or Cross Connect Boxes damaged > 700• Pedestals / Terminals damaged - 33,000• Remote Terminals/Multiplexer sites destroyed – 34

Oversight Restoration Strategy

• Restore service to priority government agencies; hospitals, FEMA, Emergency personnel, Fire, Police etc.

• Reestablish service to all wireless providers.• Rebuild feeder route backbone in all devastated wire

centers, driven by repopulation, city planning and customer reports.

• Deploy SLC on Wheels (SOW’s) and other temporary solutions where the underground facilities were destroyed and restoration triggers are activated.

• Place sub-feeders and fiber extensions serving Digital Loop Carrier permanent solutions as repopulation continues.

• Rebuild or replace the cross-box/interfaces and distribution facilities in neighborhoods that are repopulating.

• Seek alternative technologies to bridge the gap in areas not yet restored.

Restoration and New Technology Deploymentvia OSPE Oversight

“Drivers and Triggers for Restoration”

OSPE OVERSIGHT

KEECenter

and WMC

Customer Repopulation Community

Planning AA Priority Map

Federal & Local Govt.

C&EA

Oversight Restoration Strategy

The Challenge of Uncertainty

• Katrina unlike most storms in the past kept population from returning for long periods of time and devastated entire neighborhoods.

• Repopulation was uncertain in some areas due to massive damages.

• Building codes and guidelines not established• Customers did not always report outages• Redevelopment was drastically different in

adjacent areas based on flooding…Nothing was standard

Accomplishments – New Orleans

• Engineered 4,842 Prints - Construction Completed 4,278

• 1.2 Million Feet Fiber Designed and placed• 1.1 Million Feet Copper cable Designed and placed• 1.5 Million Ft of Damaged Underground Cables removed• 2.1 Million Ft of Fiber Innerduct placed• 3500 Poles and Anchors placed • 148 Electronics Sites placed; 60 additional in-progress• 41 SOWS Engineered/Placed - Served >5000 customers• 208 X-boxes Replaced• 3153 Manholes Decontaminated – 413 tons of sludge

removed• Established Wireless Broadband Service in the greater New

Orleans area in November• Establish Fixed Wireless Voice Services to reach areas not

connected by landline facilities

Damage Assessment by Area

Process & Network Enhancements

• Established remote engineering processes and partners in other BellSouth states to design and engineer jobs. These designers receive field notes from local field forces and process jobs electronically back to local engineering forces. This will mitigate need for additional personnel and housing during housing shortages immediately following storms.

• Established new mapping tools to track progress.

• Brought in teams of Building Industry Consultants (BICS) experts to negotiate equipment room relocation and elevation in damaged buildings. 797 terminals were inspected. As of 8/1 still 77 buildings without access.

Process & Network Enhancements

• Brought in outside right-of-way acquisition teams to supplement local teams. Teams negotiate easements for new elevated electronics sites. Where local permitting and easements allow sites are elevated above Katrina flood levels.

• Established fiber-fed facilities in the damaged feeder routes in heavily damaged wire centers.

• Established fiber-fed facilities to cell sites across the severely damaged area using a new product which delivers fiber to the cell provider’s network interface (making BellSouth’s network less vulnerable to power interruptions). Cell providers provide backup generator to maintain service.

Mechanized Maps Used for Restoration

• Allocation Area Map with Attributes

Engineering Challenges & Solutions

Chalmette• Former vacant

lot became a FEMA trailer park in a short timeframe

• No existing facilities, utilize fiber and electronics to provide facilities

Engineering Challenges & Solutions

Beryl Street – Orleans Parish• New fiber fed facilities on a raised platform to provide

service to repopulating neighborhood

Damage Prevention - Elevated Digital Carrier Sites

• Fiber Carrier Facility on Raised Platform

Removing Damaged Facilities

• Chopper truck crews removed miles of damaged underground copper pulp cables, creating the pathways for fiber facilities and future technologies on raised platforms that can withstand flooding

•Placing Innerduct in the conduit run in advance of placing fiber cable for future voice and broadband services

Damage Prevention - Elevated Sites

• Engineered elevated structures to mitigate damage by flooding

• Fiber feeder cables not susceptible to damage by flooding• Acquiring Right Of Way and access was challenging-aesthetics• Facilities were rearranged to reduce the number of interfaces

or cross connect points and ensure that new locations are elevated

Elevated Service to Restored Cell Site

St. Bernard Parish• Fiber fed location providing latest technology • Elevated platform for electronics serving cell site• Provides protection against flooding

Emergency Back Up Power for Critical Sites

• Natural Gas 25 KW Emergency Generator to power Fiber Carrier Facility

• Provides back up power to ensure that service is not disrupted in case of a storm or power outage

• Elevated to prevent damage from flooding

Wireless Broadband Service Deployed

Emergency Preparation

• Negotiated contracts with local parking garages to vertically evacuate engineering and low profile construction and installation vehicles in New Orleans prior to future storms.

• Evacuation Plans and timelines established for larger vehicles to emergency center in Baton Rouge.

• Negotiated Contracts for emergency fueling and fuel distribution to critical network elements pre and post storm.

• Alternative emergency operations center established in Baton Rouge for evacuation of key personnel based on local guidance.

Emergency Preparation

• Established dedicated liaisons and backups to Parish Emergency Operations Centers to work with local officials on critical issues such as access, essential needs, service priorities.

• Alternative communications devices secured and distributed to all key management personnel to ensure communications following storms.

• Planned disaster drills and scheduled tabletop exercises to test emergency operations plans.

• Emergency Operations Plan communicated to all levels of management.

• Local plans synchronized with regional EOC.

“Spirit of Service”

New Orleans Main Central Office

There is a new Rhythm in New OrleansThere is a new Rhythm in New Orleans