Things have deteriorated fairly quickly here. We have lost several connections including main campus Internet, External Phone Service, and Amcom Paging out of Levin Hall. The main campus phone switch cannot call out but works internally. The ‘Orange Phone’ Emergency Phone Switch is working for outside and long distance dialing. John Sealy and Old John Sealy Routers are under water we believe because we can’t connect to them and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) can’t logon to their computers. The EOC moved from 7th floor to 5th floor due to power issues I believe. There were several incorrect reports of MRB and Levin being on fire but the EOC has confirmed that the fire was at a house behind Pharmacology. EOC just informed us that the generator for Trauma was down also so as you might expect water and power just don’t mix.
Due to the lack of Internet connectivity, we have activated (at 12:50 a.m.) our e-mail continuity solution via MessageOne. We are hoping Blackberry users will be able to get e-mails again and for our customers in the hospital this and phones would be their only communication mechanism. All of you externally can access your e-mail on MessageOne by connecting to ems.messageone.com, enter your e-mail like tleach@utmb.edu and then your current UTMB-USERS-M password. You won’t have your old messages but you can send and receive new.
Right now we are in the eye of the storm and it is very, very quiet. Water is coming into the first floor of Admin as we speak and the television news reports that the highest storm surge is at the back of the eye. Most of the staff here are bedding down and trying to get some sleep before the winds return. It is clear that IS will have some significant work to do after this storm (may take some real creativity). It will take all of us and things won’t be back up Sunday. Have a good night and we will communicate sometime in the morning. Thank goodness for Sprint cards!!!!! Todd
Please provide informtion….We were taken by ambulence to Austin and we have heard nothing as far as how we will be returning and if we will be returning. We are fearful because we have had absolutly no information as to how this wil take place. We understand that there are issues there right now but nobody in Austin is giving us information about if and when we will return to Galveston. Really we want to know how it is planned for us to return. Are we going to be stranded here? Please let us know. Thanks, Joshua Pierce