Hurricane Irma has done a number on cell sites in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the 44 counties reporting to the FCC's Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS), and that number is 55.2% of those sites out of service.
DIRS is the system through which providers voluntarily report on the status of communications.
Irma is a category 5 hurricane and one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record.
The FCC said that based on limited input there are no broadcast stations off the air. The FCC also said that based on the widespread power outages, it has received reports that "large percentages" of consumers in the affected areas are without cable or wireline service.
Late Thursday the FCC expanded the request for DIRS reports to all counties in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
(Photo via Official U.S. Navy Page's Flickr. Image taken on Sept. 7, 2017 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 16x9 aspect ratio.)
