Verizon stands ready to serve our customers and the community as Hurricane Irma threatens the U.S.

The following statement is from Russ Preite, president – Southeast Market:

While there is still some uncertainty about Hurricane Irma’s direction and impact, our teams have been working tirelessly to prepare. We have been engaged from the southern tip of Florida up through Virginia to ensure our network provides the life-saving connectivity needed during times like these. We stand ready to support our employees, customers, government officials, first responders and the impacted communities before, during and after the storm. Once we are able to better assess where the impact will be, we are prepared to provide data relief for our customers in the hardest hit areas.

Preparations include:

• Preparing and staging refueling services throughout Florida, Georgia, Virginia, and South Carolina so if commercial power is lost, our network facilities can continue to run indefinitely on generator back up.
• Pre-staging replacement and backup equipment for rapid recovery of impacted facilities.
• Deployment and pre-staging of mobile equipment including Cells on Wheels (COWs), Generators on a Truck (GOATs) and Cellular Repeaters on Wheels (CROWs), Satellite Pico Cell on a Trailer (SPOTs) to move into impacted areas that need additional service or coverage.
• Preparing and pre-staging the Wireless Emergency Communications Center (WECC)
• Coordinating security passes and communication lines with local, state and federal Emergency Operations Centers.
• Setting up our Wireless Emergency Operation Center which will activate and run 24x7 throughout the duration of the storm.

In addition, we are supporting our U.S. customers who have friends and family in the Caribbean by providing free wireless and wireline calling to the Caribbean nations.