The Towers Were Standing: A Cause Decomposition of Cellular Outages During Hurricane Helene

A study on cellular outages during Hurricane Helene, which resulted in the largest recorded cell-site outage, reveals that the conventional assumption of physical damage to towers is largely incorrect. The research, based on FCC data, indicates that only a negligible percentage of outages were due to cell site destruction. Instead, power failures and severed transport (backhaul) infrastructure were the dominant causes, with geographical variations influencing their respective impacts.

Why it matters

This research provides critical insights into the actual causes of widespread communication infrastructure failures during extreme weather events, challenging conventional assumptions about physical destruction. Understanding these underlying vulnerabilities is essential for developing more resilient communication networks, improving disaster preparedness, and ensuring continuity of service for public safety and economic stability.

Key insights

• Hurricane Helene caused the largest absolute cell-site outage in public FCC records, peaking at 4,562 sites.
• Physical damage to cell sites themselves was negligible, accounting for only 1.1% of attributed cell-site-days across six states and a maximum of 3.8% in any single location.
• The primary cause of outages was power failure, contributing to 63.2% of pooled outages.
• In mountainous regions, specifically North Carolina, severed transport (backhaul) infrastructure was a significant factor, reaching 52.2% of outages.
• Over 1,700 miles of fiber infrastructure were destroyed, though not directly at cell sites.

Source

arXiv — Computers and Society — https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10944