How do phone calls work after national disasters? - Possible Hurricane?

[Deva]

Do hurricanes count? Do they need to do cause a certain amount of damage before SRs are allowed calls? Can they only call immediate family members? Or do you need to go through Red Cross?

I live in the panhandle of Florida and my SO is in bootcamp graduating within the next few weeks.

I heard that in the event of a national disaster sailors are permitted to make calls to check up on loved ones? Would a hurricane count? Will SR's even be informed of a hurricane approaching their state?

My area in North Florida is rather rural and even a category 1 hurricane causes a lot of tree damage and can knock out power for 2-3 weeks. Hurricane Hermine did a lot to my area in 2016. 

So I was wondering if anyone knew the procedure. I read that in the event of a national disaster SR's might be permitted to make calls as opposed to family going through Red Cross. Would a possible hurricane count? 

[sherrifm]

Prior to Florence, my son was allowed an emergency welfare check to make sure we were okay and prepared for the storm.  We live in the direct hit zone of that hurricane.  Of course they had predicted her to be stronger than she was, but I don't believe that would make a difference.  A hurricane is a hurricane.  With that being said, I have no idea what the Navy's standards are for those situations.  It was totally a surprise for me when he called.  Also, he called from the RDC's phone, not the phone bank, and it was about 9:30pm.  His Senior Chief was right there with him, encouraging him to ask certain questions about our preparedness, which I though was really awesome.  It gave him a more "human" image, and not so much the mean RDC image we (my son and I) may have previously had. 

[Duke13]

Good morning Deva,  I cannot speak to policy & procedure regarding this matter, one of the admins could help with that possibly, but I can speak from personal experience.

I live in Hampton Roads, which is where Naval Station Norfolk is, & my son left for bootcamp Sept. 10th. Hurricane Florence was expected to hit our region on Thursday/Friday that week & parts of our area were under mandatory evacuations & both NAS Oceana which is right around the corner from me had the jets leave & Naval Station Norfolk sent the ships out to sea, which is their norm during hurricanes. Anyway, I received an unexpected phone call on the Wednesday night following his arrival on Monday, asking if we were safe. It was a 48second phone call, but they did have him call us. It did warm my heart knowing they let him call.

My husband & I just left from vacationing with my son who is stationed at NSA Panama City Beach & I’m concerned about the threat of this storm for them now, as they are in the direct path. 

I will be thinking of everyone down there & praying all goes well for everyone & that my son stays safe. Not sure I answered your question, just thought I would give you my take on it, that yes, hurricanes clearly count.

[belovedbyHim]

I know you are worried but make your preparations and keep yourself safe.  You can call to let them know you are safe either at the number below or through the red cross.  They may or may not let them call home to check in but it will likely be one short call to a single number.  If you think your SR is likely to call home and not you, you should make a plan to check in with them.  Unless you are married the Navy does not consider you as anyone important (sorry that sounds harsh but it is how they work).  Spouse, Dependents, Parents, Siblings those are the top of the list for notification or emergency leave.  Everyone else is a huge maybe.  Please keep yourself safe and have the red cross and PAO numbers available.  You have my prayers that this storm just falls apart and dumps all it's rain in the Gulf!!

[Deva]

Thanks! Only I live in the direct path according to current projections, their own family does not. They live further down the state so I imagine their first instinct would be concerned about myself and family. I will use the above information to relay my family’s movements once the storm draws closer. 

Thank you you for your help. 

[Deva]

I just wanted to give an update: 

Earlier today I contacted RTC and they responded back saying they relayed my message over to my SR's RDC. 

No phone call or anything currently but I do feel better knowing that my message has been relayed even though I'm not an immediate family member. He does not need to worry about if my family evacuated or not. He always asks how my mom is doing in his letters. I'm sure he's busy these last few weeks and the last thing he needs to have on his mind is wondering if my family left or not.

The hurricane is already a cat. 3 and the storm surge is expected to be huge. So now we just wait and see at this point what happens from here.

Thank you for all your help and prayers to any other families who are also in the path of Michael. 

[Deva]

Final update: I did get a short 1 minute check-in call earlier tonight. 

So yes RTC is on top of everything and yes calls can apparently go out to non-immediate family members if necessary. 

Thanks all for your help and support and hopefully this discussion helps those in the future.