Some Amateur Radio Assistance Continues during Isabel Relief and Recovery
The sight of advancing Hurricane Isabel--then a category 2 storm--as seen from space by NASA's Terra satellite on September 18. [NASA Photo]
Scenes like this account for the fact that many communities in coastal Virginia--and even a few more inland--still don't have electrical power. [Tom Gregory, N4NW, Photo]
Isabel led to the loss of K4JA's tower. There's more information and photos on his Web site.
Virginia SEC Tom Gregory, N4NW, says that while fallen trees blocked his car in the driveway, his antennas survived the storm. [Tom Gregory, N4NW, Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 23, 2003--Some Amateur Radio activity continues this week as residents in states hit hard by Hurricane Isabel continue to suffer the storm's effects. Many communities in the affected zone remain without power or reliable telephone service five days after the storm came ashore on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Much of the damage was a result of storm surges and flooding rather than high winds.
ARRL North Carolina Section Manager John Covington, W4CC, reports that some Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) teams continue to provide VHF/UHF communication support for localities--most in the hard-hit northeastern portion of the state--that still lack power and telephone service. Covington said hams have been providing point-to-point communication between shelters and emergency operations centers in affected counties. In one community, hams were helping a fire dispatch center that had lost its antennas in the storm. Hams also were making use of a linked repeater system.
Covington toured the storm-affected region over the weekend and reports that electric power was returning slowly in many communities. He indicated, however, that repairs to damaged property--especially along the Outer Banks and the coastline--will take a lot longer.
At the height of the emergency, hams in North Carolina activated the Tarheel Net on 75 meters to support or back up communication between county EOCs and the state EOC in the capital of Raleigh. Amateur volunteers spent several days at ARES station NC4EB at the North Carolina Emergency Management's Eastern Branch headquarters in Kinston--the primary emergency operation center (EOC) for the hurricane.
Salvation Army Team Emergency Network (SATERN) New York City Coordinator Jeff Schneller, N2HPO, says that SATERN volunteer Carlos Varon, K2LCV, will accompany two Salvation Army canteens from New York which are responding to North Carolina for 10 days.
In Virginia, Section Emergency Coordinator Tom Gregory, N4NW, reports he is still among residents of The Old Dominion lacking electrical power. Isabel took out power well into the commonwealth's midsection, even affecting more inland communities such as the capital city of Richmond and Charlottesville. Shelters inland from the coast now have closed, and residents have returned to their homes to begin the cleanup, Gregory said.
As the storm approached and in its immediate aftermath, the Old Dominion Emergency Net/Virginia Emergency Net Alpha was activated on HF to help support communication between the state EOC and local EOCs. Gregory said the net had checkins from about half of the Commonwealth's localities.
"Many areas lost power and telephones when trees fell, knocking out the lines," Gregory said this week. A lot of trees toppled because the ground became too wet to support them. Gregory said flooding was mostly confined to coastal areas, including Virginia's Tidewater region surrounding Norfolk.
First Colony District Emergency Coordinator Darrell Sutton, KF4HJW, in the Tidewater city of Newport News reported that ARES remained up over the weekend to support the intermittent failure of telephone service. Newport News ARES was active from September 17 and through the height of the storm staffing shelters and hospitals, he said in a report to Gregory.
Due to rumors that water was being turned off, ARES also remained active on local frequencies in the Tidewater area to relay accurate information on water availability. Water service remained up, but authorities in some communities have recommended boiling or treating it before drinking it.
Gregory said Virginia ARES continued to staff the Newport News and York County EOCs until September 22.
Virginia SM Carl Clements, W4CAC, who lives in the Tidewater community of Portsmouth, said ARES support has mostly stood down in his part of the state, although some health-and-welfare traffic continued.
"Power is slowly but surely coming back to Portsmouth," he said, although some three-quarters of the region's residents still don't have power. Clements said the Red Cross was consolidating its shelters, and Amateur Radio may be called upon to support that operation. Gregory and Clements both have been running emergency generators at their homes. Gregory has recommended that all amateurs involved in ARES invest in emergency generators, so they can stay on the air.
Isabel's high winds dropped the Amateur Radio tower of Paul Hellenberg, K4JA, in Callao--a tiny community in eastern Virginia's Northumberland County, just inland from the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.
"The gusting high winds twisted the quadruple-guyed, 178-foot tall rotating tower into the ground, demolishing the two 48-foot boom, four-element 40-meter full-size Yagis," Hellenberg reported. While there's nothing left of the antennas worth saving, he thinks he might be able to salvage some 100 feet of the tower.
Hellenberg, who was running his home on emergency power until power came back September 22, got help dismantling the wreckage and already is thinking about what to put up next. "I have so much work to do, but I am smiling," he said.
More rain this week forced Hellenberg to cancel a crane he'd ordered for the antenna project. He reports his area has received some 15 inches of rain in the past two to three weeks.
Maryland Section Emergency Coordinator Mike Carr, WA1QAA, reports that Red Cross shelters in his state have shut down and so has ARES support. Carr said several shelters closed as early as September 19, the morning after the storm struck.
Carr said Isabel's impact in Maryland was less than anticipated because the storm already had lost a lot of its strength and moved rapidly once it made landfall. Maryland only got about 2 of the 6 to 12 inches of rain that had been predicted, and winds reached 60 MPH. "The water surge in Chesapeake Bay is what caused a good bit of damage in Baltimore and nearby Anne Arundel County," Carr said.
Chuck Hodell, N8AND, said the "extreme" storm surge at his location in Stevensville on Maryland's Eastern Shore came "just when we thought it was over." The surge topped his foundation by more than 4 feet--amounting to a 9-foot surge, he estimated. Hodell said the living area of his dwelling starts at an elevation of 12 feet.
"All the vehicles were covered up to the windshield line, and most of the stuff on the ground floor at least got wet." He said he was grateful that no one in his neighborhood was injured. "Lots of radio gear is soggy, and I need to figure out what to do with the vehicles now that they are out of the water," he said.
Maryland SM Tom Abernethy, W3TOM, rode out the storm from his home on Accokeek, just south of Washington, DC. Abernethy reports he monitored nearly 70 Amateur Radio emergency nets on 2 meters in the Delmarva region.
At one point, Amateur Radio operators supported some 100 mostly Red Cross shelters set up in Maryland. "When the public safety officials' cell phones quit working, Amateur Radio was the only way to get through," Abernethy said.