Storms put focus on technology – and its limitations
Connecting state and local government leaders
When modern technology falls short, it's up to the old stuff to carry us through.
Almost nowhere on the East Coast was safe from the storms that ravaged it this week, and the Washington, D.C., area was no exception. Although spared from the massive cyclone that slammed through Tuscaloosa, Ala., and the tornadoes that struck elsewhere throughout the South, the D.C. area did have a few tornadoes touch down, and more bad weather than Zeus could generate with one of his thunderbolts.
My experience during the storms was comparatively minor. Other than a little water in the basement, there was not much damage. But it did get me using some very high-tech, and some very low-tech, devices to keep abreast of the dangerous situation.
And that got me thinking about my age-old argument that the way to go in technology planning is to use the lowest common denominator that gets the job done. Or at least have as part of your plan, as a fallback, if nothing else. Sometimes complexity is your worst enemy, because there is just so much more that can go wrong.
Case in point, when my wife saw on the news that the squall line was heading our way, I jumped onto my computer and went to Weather.com. There I was treated to a radar image (overlaid on a satellite or street map) where I could see the storm approaching.
The red glare of its midsection seemed to gaze at me with malicious intent. I could even track it back for the past few hours, watching it slowly creep in my direction. One really innovative thing about Weather.com is that it now has predictive radar. So you no long have to track a storm in the past. You can ask the application where the storm will be up to six hours in the future, and get a reasonably good idea.
When the front edge of the storm hit, the power went out. But I was ready for that. Backup power supplies kicked in and kept juice flowing to my router, switch, monitor and computer. I had made the mistake before of not putting the router on a backup power supply, resulting in the computer staying up, but without an Internet connection. But I was all set this time around.
Then things took a turn. When things got really bad, we were warned to get to a safe room. Our safe room happens to be our basement laundry room, and it’s very low-tech, down there with the spiders. As my wife and I, and our very annoyed cat who had to be awakened from one of her many naps, huddled on the concrete floor, illuminated by the harsh florescent glow of a camping lamp, I felt very disconnected.
But my wife pulled out the weather radio we keep inside the emergency supplies tub. With a brilliant crackle of static, it spurred to life, telling us exactly what was going on outside. Only after the radio gave us the all-clear about 15 minutes later did we emerge back into the world.
So the most valuable technology to us in that situation was probably the radio, using a technology that's more than 100 years old. But the radio is portable, works in adverse conditions, can be stored in a bin along with Band-Aids and Spam for six months at a time, and gives you information when you need it. It might not give you as much information as modern technology, or present it in as pleasing a way, but when your life or the lives of others are at risk, sometimes the simplest solution is best.
Do you have any storm stories to share? And how and what type of technology, if any, did you use to help make it safely through to the hopefully beautiful weekend ahead?