Thanks to those fabulous folks in Information Services, UTMB email is back online. It looks like Blackberry services are now back online too.
To access your email, go to http://ems.messageone.com. Use your full UTMB email address as your login name, i.e. jmessex@utmb.edu. Use your regular UTMB email password.
Please remember you will not see messages that were sent or received prior to the switch to the emergency email system. (You’re also going to see all the spam that UTMB usually filters out for you. Please be careful and remember — don’t even open emails that don’t come from a sender you recognize and should be getting mail from.
If you log on online you have full access to the Global Address Book. I’m not sure if this is available from Blackberries.
Will post/broadcast more as I get more information.
For those who are away and trying to see images. NBC Channel 2 in Houston is streaming a live broadcast online and right now they are transmitting images of damage. Also, a Galveston Daily News reporter, Leigh Jones, is posting updates on Twitter at http://twitter.com/leighjones.
-Julia
UTMB is fine. We have had only one minor injury. All research labs remain secure. Obviously we have had some water and wind damage and we are assessing that right now. Our top priorities are getting four ED patients evacuated from the hospital and getting the ED ready to accept more patients. Communication and power are spotty, we have a few slippery floors, and no AC but again UTMB is fine.
Look for future communications on this site and on UTMB’s emergency home page, internet address 129.109.242.13. You can also try www.utmb.edu.
UTMB Emergency Operations Center Leadership
The UTMB website is now up at http://www.utmb.edu. It is just the Alert site, but I’m guessing new information will start coming.
-Julia
I got a voice mail from Tina this morning reporting that all power, including backups, and connectivity has gone down on campus. Dr. Thompson and Adriana are ok, but only had their phones. They are probably trying to preserve their batteries.
I am unable to log on to UTMB webmail, and the main UTMB page is not coming up at all. I do know that there was a team sent by UTMB leadership to Arlington in case communications went down on campus, so I am hopeful that over the next few hours I.S. is successful at either restoring communications or switching them to come through Arlington.
I’ll repeat my plea for check ins — if you haven’t heard from your supervisor by noon, please check in. More news to come.
-Julia
The most important thing is that all staff are safe. At Admin we have power and AC. There is no running water. The water around the island is subsiding but there is still a lot out there and it is raining now. Admin got some water on the first floor but that has cleared and Police has moved back to dispatch. The emergency ‘orange’ phone system is working inside and externally. We have Internet only through Sprint cards. Facilities may be having difficulty getting fuel to the generator so we may only have about 2 hours of AC left but they’ve taken great care of us so far and they are trying to get more fuel here. All systems have been shut down so a power shut down will only impact the staff. We will try to do a conference call later today. Time to follow. Thanks…Todd.
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
While this is not an “official” Family Medicine broadcast, I wanted to post an update for anyone who hasn’t been checking their email today.
It looks like email , at least so far, is how we’re getting most of our information from our on-campus essentials. Drs. Thompson, Simmons-Melendez, and Uzowulu are our “on-campus” folks. I believe Obi was staying at Dr. Thompson’s house (which is only a few blocks away on the harbor), while Dr. Thompson and Donna were bunking down at the hospital.
We do have several other folks from the department riding out the storm on the island. Becky, Judy, and Cassi are all still on the island (this may not be everyone, but it is everyone I know.)
I am guessing that much more information will be available early tomorrow as the sun rises and we can see again. If you don’t hear from your supervisor tomorrow, please check in with them.
Please be patient tomorrow and Sunday as we assess the situation and begin making plans. I am guessing that as soon as we have a plan we will send out a broadcast, post it here, and activate the phone tree to let everyone know what is going on.
Please stay safe. And again, if you need information or need to report anything and cannot reach your supervisor, please call or email me and I will help you out.
Julia Essex
I just sent the following communication to UTMB’s Emergency Operations Center:
Due to problems with the backup chiller, we need to shut down all systems in the Administration Building data center except e-mail and Internet access. We will coordinate with clinical staff and print all required EPIC documentation prior to shutting it down. We will also be shutting down the mainframe (Invision, Signature, & the Student Information System) as soon as a nightly Signature job stream finishes around 11:00 p.m. Shutting these systems down in an organized fashion will help us bring them back up much more quickly.
At present, the Levin Hall and Trauma data centers are fine with non-chilled water air handlers. The one in Trauma supports the telephone system the Emergency Operations Center. Again, our priorities will be to keep the communication systems up as long as possible. If you have questions, call us. Thanks…Todd.
*** End Message
I really appreciate the EOC’s understanding as their response was “Perfectly Understandable.” Too many systems were reporting over 105 degrees. We may still have to switch to MessageOne (backup e-mail before the night is out).
We have some good pictures of the 2.5 to 3 feet of water in the circle in front of John Sealy. It is up to the top of those planters in front of Admin. We will try to get them posted after system shutdowns complete. We still haven’t seen the worst and what we have seen is already pretty amazing. We will keep you posted…Todd.
Well winds have picked up considerably now and at times the Admin building sways just a little (new experience for this storm on-site rookie). The portable chilling solution has been off and on and the temperatures in the admin data center are still rising. Levin and Trauma are on DX Air Conditioning and are fine right now. We continue to be worried about the roof in Levin.
We are starting an extensive list of Tier 3 server shutdowns in admin and we have gotten the go ahead from David Connaughton to shut down Hyperion servers. Many of the EPIC development, test reporting, and training systems have also been shut down.
Phone systems, server systems and network equipment can no longer be remoted into in Lipton, Shearn Moody Plaza, Frost Bank, Rebecca Sealy, and 700 University. Brian Grimm reports much of our network equipment is down (hopefully due to power and not flooding but a good portion may be flooded soon anyway). With Frost Bank down on power, our correctional customers will be without systems (Emerald & PRS) for a few days. The WAN team is looking at alternatives and I’m sure after the storm that it will involve Huntsville in some way.
Our focus now is on communication systems (e-mail, Internet, Blackberry) and a few clinical systems (EPIC and Invision for a transfer or two).
We will have another update at 10:30 p.m. Hope all of you are safe. Todd
UTMB is in the process of starting the portable chiller that will support the data center in the event the main campus chilled water plant fails (and it will fail in this storm). It is a little early but the concern is that once winds pick up, staff will not be able to be sent out to activate it. Let’s hope the forecasts are wrong and it stays above water. Unfortunately when we turn on the portable chiller, portions of 4th floor admin get a little warm so we will all have to make do.
On a totally different note, Landon Winburn clarified that the IS picture site that I shared early in an Information Services broadcast is only available on the UTMB network. If you are accessing it from outside UTMB, you can use http://129.109.242.13/ike/. Thanks…Todd.