Now that the dust has settled and the flooding has receded, US telcos are taking stock of how well their emergency planning stood up to the onslaughts of hurricanes Helene and Milton, which struck in quick succession. Milton made landfall exactly two weeks after Helene, and was not quite as devastating and far less deadly in its impact, partly because it extended over a smaller area, and also weakened quickly. Helene resulted in greater loss of mobile service and longer time to restore, in general. Around 30% of cell sites were down on average across the six affected states, but it was as high as 70% in North Carolina on September 28th at the peak, coming down to 40% four…