Communications a wash out

During a disaster, when you need it most, communication technology is the first thing to go. I learned that first hand this weekend when 11 inches of rain was dumped on the tiny village of Gilsum, NH where I have my office. Gilsum is next door to Alstead, NH, another small village that suffered severe damage from weekend rain storms.

Gilsum village is at the bottom of a valley. The streams here became raging torrents that sent boulders flying down stream beds, through bridges and up against homes here. Many bridges are out and many  roads aren’t passable. For a while Sunday morning several houses and the fire station in this village were under water as the storm continued. Meanwhile, the Ashuelot river ripped into the highways, cutting off the town in several places. Communications quickly became a victim of the storms.

High-speed internet is gone along with those sections of highways in and out of town. Fortunately, telephones lines are working here. Now I’ve fallen back on dial-up, which thankfully is available, although the 21Kbps connect speed has the feeling of working on the Internet by candelight. Meanwhile in neighboring Alstead, where a partially breached dam sent a torrent of water into the village, power and telephone service are out. Communication is restricted to spotty cellular service (not great in a rural area) and two-way radios which have been crackling all morning.

Like the Internet, however, people around here are are resilient. It’s fortunate that we have so many communication options. While the Internet is resilient at the national level, it is ironic that a local disaster quickly puts communication networks out of reach for those who need it most.