Several years ago, we had severe flooding here in Iowa. One of our
phone switching offices got flooded and I think the high-water mark
inside was 42 inches.
Fortunately, we had hit the circuit breaker on the phone switch
itself, but had to leave everything else running to fend for itself.
One fiber terminal went under and as it did so, proceeded to produce
some impressive flames. There were scorch marks almost three feet up
the rack. Obviously, that didn't survive.
The next day, we're wading in and starting the salvage process. We're
pulling stuff out and hosing it down as we could get to it. Meanwhile,
we STILL had power to a couple of items from the battery banks which
were submerged under the muddy water. We used a combination of WD-40
and electronics cleaner (cases of cans) and spread stuff out on tables
to dry in the sun while the commercial cleaning crew cleaned and
sanitized the facility. We'd hose the stuff off with water, then use
the cans of stuff to displace and clean. Once dried off, we'd also
give everything a good wipe down. Then it came time to plug everything
back in (and replace everything that got destroyed). Amazingly enough,
we did get the switch up and running again.
Barely.
For a while.
Over the next two years, we ended up replacing 100% of the gear that got wet.
What didn't help matters was that the cabling itself had gotten wet
and had wicked moisture all over the place and caused corrosion and
issues everywhere. Those polyvinyl coatings on everything are supposed
to be hydrophobic, but the issue with hydrophobic surfaces is that
what doesn't get repelled immediately, will move and migrate through
airgaps in the cable. We'd end up with shorts and corrosion
everywhere. And then came the mold inside the cables.
We lost one other office that year, but that one was a total loss and
we didn't even bother with a salvage effort. The next year, we lost
two more and both of those were toast. Since then, we've gotten more
effective and building barriers around our buildings and keeping the
water out. We've had more get wiped out from tornadoes.
Another issue that we encountered is that when electricity (-48VDC) is
flowing through cabling and the cable is wet, there are REALLY WEIRD
things that happen. We'll end up getting shorts and fires.
AG
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