By Godson Umejiego, Bureau Chief, The Americas

The Federal Communications Commission(FCC) is currently focused on the preparation for and response to Hurricane Milton, even as it continues to  support the recovery from Hurricane Helene, including issuing daily reports on the progress of  communications restoration and keeping staff on the ground in North Carolina to perform  assessments, Cyber Era NG learns.

Sequel to this, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica  Rosenworcel has issued the following statement in anticipation of Hurricane Milton’s landfall.

It reads: “This Hurricane season is proving to be a particularly active and destructive one.  In preparation  for this latest storm, we continue to coordinate with industry and government partners at all levels  to prevent as many communications networks from going offline as possible.  We announced  activation of our Disaster Information Reporting System for Florida, so we can keep a close eye  on communications outage data in the coming days and do what is necessary to support recovery  and restoration efforts.  We are also activating our Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative, which  requires cooperation between wireless carriers to minimize the impact of communications  outages.

“ We’ve deployed FCC staff to conduct pre-landfall baseline surveys and provide on-the ground support in targeted areas to assess the post-landfall impact to critical communications  services and infrastructure.  I can’t stress enough, for communities directly in the path of this  storm, please take to heart the instructions of local leaders and officials, remain opted in to  Wireless Emergency Alerts, and sign up to receive additional emergency alerts and warnings. 

We know that every second counts, and the latest public safety information makes a difference.”

“The FCC’s Operations Center is available 24/7 to assist public safety, government, and  communications industry stakeholders with emergency communications needs.  For updates from  the FCC related to Hurricane Milton, please visit www.fcc.gov/milton.

As the FCC focuses on the preparation for and response to Hurricane Milton, it continues to support the recovery from Hurricane Helene, including issuing daily reports on the progress of communications restoration and keeping staff on the ground in North Carolina to perform  assessments.”