Cienfuegos Cuba, after Hurricane Dennis.

In the 1880’s some of the streets of New York were said to be dark with wires. The great blizzard of 1888 led to moving most of the wiring below ground.

Routing around failure:

” ‘One of the most extraordinary incidents of the great storm was a despatch [sic] received in this city on March 13, from Boston by way of London. For forty-eight hours there had been no telegraphic or railroad communication between New York and Boston. The correspondent of the Boston Globe, who has special wires from Boston running into the World office, has been unable to communicate with his editor. That night the correspondent received a despatch [sic] from him by way of London. The cables both from Boston and New York were in working order.’ — The Blizzard Men of 1888