we didn't get hit by Katrina by the Grace of God, but the 04/05 season brought 3 of them pretty close to me... I had sustained winds of about 90mph gusts to over 125...power out for about 6 days... land line was up, though it is vulnerable above ground feed to the fiber optic box in my back yard...

we have very good storm coverage in the Tampa Bay area, and the TV stations simulcast on radio...I had an older (pre digital switch over) battery TV and used it along with the Grundig...for entertainment listened to the BBC in the light of a Dietz lantern..something I imagined Londoners did during the Blitz

upgraded to a digital portable and am looking for one of the pocket portables...found my old 9 transistor from the 60's and it only gets rock and roll

Power transformer blew not far from our house. 80k without power when it happened. My backyard temp gauge was reading 135* and my indoor was jumping from 79 to 91 really fast.

Only source of info at the house was from our 'emergency' radio. Gave me enough info to realize we were pulling back to our folks place that had power. A few hours later we had power.

Sidenote, using the iPhone app Oo Tunes, I had placed the local police, fire scanner in my Favorite file and got to listen to the police work the traffic and surprisingly the news people around for safety.

So, it sounds like in a real disaster scenario, an AM/FM radio could be handy, given enough batteries and a decent radio.

Now, the other half of my question. In a Katrina-esque situation, how useful was being able to monitor local amateur radio repeaters, etc., as compared to the local commercial AM/FM radio stations? In other words, was a ham license and gear extremely useful?

A great radio for emergency use is the Sony M37, which is also my everyday radio - light, small, powered by one AAA battery. It usually is coupled to ear buds, but can be connected to speakers. It has both AM/FM as well as weather channels, which could be critical in many emergency situations.

It may also be useful to listen to police radio during an emergency. There are police scanner apps available for Android and for iPhone. It may not be legal in your state, so please check the local laws.

Da Bing

Yes. I was in Katrina an many more. In each case, being able to ask questions proved valuable. Being part of the dialog is much better than being a spectator. This was especially true during the first 48 hours or so when information was spotty and the situation was extremely fluid (no pun intended).

Not only was I able to ask specific questions but I also contributed the the general knowledge. Plus many of the folks I was working with were hams so we had excellent communications for our coordinated activities.

But my reason for having a ham license goes well beyond disaster communication. So I am not sure if it would be worth while for that specific use only. You just would not have the skills and understanding to use the system well if you just waited to turn it on when the disaster happened. So if you do go the ham route, please learn to use the system. Like anything, there is a learning curve.

Nomad

Too late, I've been licensed since 1973, and have an Extra Class license.