SpaceX and TMobile have been given emergency special temporary authority by the FCC to enable Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capability to provide coverage for cell phones in the affected areas of Hurricane Helene

This is amazing news. It would have been better had this service been approved to be made available over a week ago for people who were trapped to be able to call out, but late is better than never.

[There was a very touching and sad video I watched yesterday with an interview with a woman, who clearly was running on pure adrenaline and likely has PTSD, who survived her town basically being destroyed and she said they only got the SMS message to go to higher ground from the river they were adjacent to after cell service had already been cut and they only just got the message now many days after the disaster. Note that the person doing the interview is also a resident of the area and was not a “diaster tourist” as some have been doing.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag-hb45J6MQ)

[The rest of his videos surveying the disaster are really good too.](https://www.youtube.com/@MarkHuneycutt/videos)

Unfortunately at this point anyone getting found is almost certainly a body rather than someone to be saved. If SMS was available before and during the disaster things may have turned out different for a lot of people.