T-Mobile offers free calls and texts to those in the path of Hurricane Harvey

Hurricane Harvey has made landfall in Texas, and the powerful storm is wreaking havoc. With winds hitting 210km/h (130 mph) there is a devastating path of destruction as well as flooding.

For those in the area, and those with loved ones affected by the storm, staying in contact is vital, as is the ability to contact emergency services. With this in mind, Verizon is doing everything it can to keep its network running, and T-Mobile is offering free calls and texts to customers.

T-Mobile's free calls and texts will be available until September 1 for parts of Texas and Louisiana. Specifically, it covers the following area codes -- Texas: 830, 512, 210, 936, 956, 361, 979, 281, 832, 713, 936, 409; Louisiana: 337, 985. T-Mobile CEO John Legere says: "Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the path of this powerful storm."

Verizon's executive director for network assurance, Leo Perreault, says: "We work hard all year-round to ensure the strongest network and provide the most advanced, reliable service to our customers when they need it most. We take this responsibility seriously, and our Network team takes great pride in providing the best network experience, especially in and after severe weather."

The company has a number of plans to help ensure people have network access, having learned lessons from previous incidents of severe weather:

• Preparing emergency command centers in the case of a storm or other crisis.
• Readying the company's fleet of mobile equipment including of Cells on Wheels (COWS), Cells on Light Trucks (COLTS), and generators on a trailers (GOaTS) that can be rolled into hard-hit locations or areas that need extra network capacity.
• Pre-arranging fuel delivery to mobile units and generators to keep the network operating at full strength even if power is lost for an extended period of time.
• Topping off and testing generators and battery backups in cells sites.
• Coordinating with local, state and federal emergency services so they have the communications services they need.
• Pre-positioning emergency equipment, setting up our local switch location to house our 24x7 command center.
• Using the newest technology such as unmanned aerial vehicles to survey tower damage after a storm.

Social media users can also turn to Facebook Safety Check to mark themselves as safe, check on loved ones, and offer help to those affected.

Image credit: Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock