Once the clouds had parted and the damage done by last week's "macroburst" storm became much more clear, thousands of tri-state area residents had no way of calling loved ones and vice versa.
Although Verizon customers in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania were without cellular service for less than 12 hours, that was enough time to further complicate picking up the pieces.
"This was a relatively short-lived wake-up call," New Jersey State Police Capt. Steven Jones said Tuesday.
The fact is, unless a major disaster strikes and it's all hands on deck across law enforcement, government and private industry, civilians are just going to have to hang in there and wait for service to be restored. However, NJSP troopers who report to the state Office of Emergency Management (OEM) said there are preemptive measures residents can take right now.
According to reports, a fiber optic line that transmits data to cell towers broke at around 1 a.m. on Wednesday as a result of the storm. Service was restored for customers around the region later that morning and early afternoon in South Jersey.
"Unfortunately, we were dealt a 'double-whammy' resulting from two separate lightening/wind/storm events some 40 miles apart that impacted our primary network and our redundant back-up system that we routinely engineer into our network infrastructure," Sheldon Jones, a Verizon public relations manager for the Philadelphia area, said Wednesday. "This was a rare occurrence in that the redundancy that was impacted is one we've employed for many years and that has served us successfully except in this unusual instance."
The company also opened free charging stations for customers in areas hardest hit by last week's storm, Jones said.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) failed to return a request for comment. However, the commission's website list steps it has taken after natural disasters to ensure communications remain intact.
The American Red Cross' downloadable "Emergency App" allows family members to stay in touch through alerts, provides expert advice on what to do in case of natural disasters, how to prepare for such events and more.
Laura Steinmetz, chief communications officer for the Red Cross' South Jersey region, called the app "a huge help when disaster strikes."
For state police and the OEM, their work begins with communications between county-level offices of emergency management in their north, central and south regions. For weather emergencies, the state OEM is constantly monitoring the weather and checking with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other outlets in New York, Jones said.
"We'll engage our county folks ahead of time if we know there's going to be a problem," NJSP Lt. Mario Sinatra said of reaching out to other offices. "We get proactive."
Referencing response after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the state OEM worked very closely with Nextel Communications to keep lines of contact open. The office can now activate phones served by satellite signals if warranted and other "redundant systems" are in place to ensure officials can stay in touch even when cellphone service goes down, Sinatra said.
According to NJSP officials, steps New Jersey residents can do to protect themselves can and should be taken immediately.
"You should have a family plan together," Capt. Bob Little said of multifaceted approach to having storm supplies in place. "The more prepared people are, the quicker they will be able to adjust and get in touch."
It's that simple. Although some may snicker at preparing for a disaster that has yet to occur, officials said the payoff is staying in touch and staying alive.
A comprehensive approach to creating such a plan is available on the state OEM website. From gathering emergency supplies like water, first-aid kits, documents and other physical goods, the checklist also urges families to make plans on where or how to meet in case of an emergency.
The emergency family plan makes provisions for those with disabilities, the elderly, those who can't drive, family pets, neighbors and more.
"Sometimes when communications break down, there's no other way around it," said Jones, adding that even the mobile devices that seem to constantly provide up-to-the-second information are fallible.
Although state police declined to specifically discuss the Verizon outage, Sinatra said the communications company does have the ability to bring out extensive gear to get services running again. However, such measures typically aren't taken for isolated incidents.
In the event of mass telephone communication shutdown, Sinatra said law enforcement could work with media outlets like radio to broadcast important information. There's also the option of driving through neighborhoods with loudspeakers on the back of trucks or distributing fliers.
For more information on creating a family plan, the state OEM website also lists ways to contact county-level offices.
"When residents are more prepared, it makes us more comfortable," Little said.
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Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.