Hurricane Katrina’s devastation was tragically comprehensive. The Category 3 storm hit the Southeast Louisiana coast on August 29, 2005, leaving an estimated US$75 billion in damages and 80 percent of the city of New Orleans flooded.

Land-based communications is usually one of the first casualties when disasters strike. Los Angeles County saw first hand the short comings of relying on terrestrial telecommunications during the 1994 Northridge earthquake.