I suppose the best communication is to communicate your competence ahead of time: I lost touch with my father in Ft. Lauderdale immediately after hurricane Wilma in 2005. I wasn't particularly worried, because I know his capabilities. When I did get in touch with him, he complained that the biggest change in south Florida was the influx of whiners--that "this(no electricity, boil water, get your dinner out of the ocean)" is what it was like to live in Florida 79 years ago...