Hurricanewatchdog.com hopes to help make things a little more bearable by giving you links to places you may be able to get information on current weather conditions, road closure links, flight delay information, ways to communicate and local media news.
WEATHER LINKS
The National Weather Service link is a good source, as is The Weather Channel. Click here to link directly to the NWS and here to go to The Weather Channel. You can link directly to current warnings from the National Weather Service here.
ROAD CLOSURES
For road closure information, the National Traffic Road Closure Information has links to your state's Department of Transportation (DOT). Click here to get that information.
FLIGHT DELAYS
Information about flight delays can be found at FAA.org. Click here to check about flight times or delays.
COMMUNICATION
Communication by phone is sometimes not possible. Cell phones can become unreliable, too. We found that during and after Hurricane Katrina, the one method of of communication that worked the most was text messaging. Text messages are more easily transmitted than a call and often get through. Be patient though. If cell towers are down or are overloaded with traffic, it may take a while for your message to be transmitted out if you are in the storm. That means that if you are in an area outside where the storm is, you may also have trouble getting a message in to friends and family. It's a good idea to plan prior to any hurricane event to use text messaging as a means of communication. Let family members and friends know that you plan to text them with the understanding that it may take a while for messages to get through.
Forums are a good way to get information, too. Please remember that during a crisis, errors of fact occur. During Hurricane Katrina, I read on a forum that our local middle school was being used as a shelter, and it had collapsed. None of that was true, but it added drama and frazzled nerves to an already tense situation. One place you might check for forums is the Weather Channel. I'll attempt to add more links as I can locate them.
LOCAL MEDIA NEWS
Local media are an excellent source of up-to-date information, particularly right after the storm. Obviously, reporters are sheltered from the storm too, but are gathering information as soon as it's safe for them to do so. They often receive live reports from residents who report about their surroundings. It's not possible for me to list all media outlets here. I do have some places for you to check that will lead you to many newspaper, radio and television websites.
Newslink.org has a wonderful site that lets you search by state and then by city to find websites of television and radio stations. Click here to go to that site.
Newslink.org also has a list of links to newspaper websites. Click here to go to that section.
ClearChannel Radio is syndicated and has stations around the U.S. Click here to see their list of stations in various areas you can link to and listen.
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