ehr@uncecs.edu (Ernest H. Robl) (09/25/89)
A report on phone service after Hurricane Hugo: Although downgraded to a tropical storm after moving inland over South Carolina, Hugo still packed enormous winds and did tremendous damage to the area in and around Charlotte, N.C., as it moved through. News reports indicate that hundreds of thousands in the area are without power and that it will probably be days before full power is restored. The bank that I use has its central computer facility in the Charlotte area. Saturday morning -- one day after the storm hit the Charlotte area -- I was unable to get the local teller machine to do transactions which required access to the main data base. However, by Saturday evening, these transactions worked without any problems. I suspect the problems were caused by lack of power to the computer site earlier in the day. I don't know whether the bank was able to get emergency power or simply re-routed processing to some alternate site, though I should be able to find out later. On the other hand, I had no problems reaching a friend living in Charlotte when I tried to phone. The connection was excellent, though she reported all power for a wide area around where she lived was out and that many trees were down. Streets were still only marginally passable a day after the storm hit. -- Ernest My opinions are my own and probably not IBM-compatible.--ehr Ernest H. Robl (ehr@ecsvax) (919) 684-6269 w; (919) 286-3845 h Systems Specialist (Tandem System Manager), Library Systems, 027 Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706 U.S.A.