I know someone who was VERY VERY involved in the post katrina comms situation - for an agency that had less comms problems than some others

Their 2 big secrets? NVIS antennas, as LONG range comms aren't the big problem - MID range (100-300 miles) is the critical zone

AND

The much dreaded (even by the guy I'm talking about) Winlink 2k

The BIG thing with winlink (which they used on VHF/UHF where they could - where it's NOT so bad) is that they could pass email, complete with attachments from the served agency to where they needed it

This from a guy who gave up about 6 weeks of his life to get down there, and run comms (ham and NON ham - like sat phones, nextels, arrange for COWs etc) for one of the well known agencies