Anatomy of a Tornado Response: Hoisington, Kansas
Editor's note: An F4 tornado ripped through the small Central Kansas town of Hoisington the evening of April 21, leaving one dead, dozens injured and millions of dollars in damage. Kansas District 5 Emergency Coordinator Robert Haneke, WG0Q, details the response to this disaster by several dozen Amateur Radio operators. Some amateur operation continues, in support of the tornado relief effort .
Saturday, April 21
At 1949 Barton County Emergency Coordinator Carl Anderson, N0ORS, activated the local ARES net on the N0OM 146.76 MHz repeater, from the Emergency Operations Center in Great Bend, Kansas, in response to storms reported in the neighboring counties to the west.
At 2114 there was a report of a possible funnel cloud five miles north and two miles west of Great Bend. At 2116 hours the National Weather Service inquired about cloud features in the Hoisington area, and three minutes later, there was a report of a funnel cloud at Hoisington, followed shortly by a report of a wall cloud.
At 2130, storm spotter Larry Bruce, KC0IFO, in Lindsborg called in a report extensive damage from a storm in Hoisington. At this time no one knew that a F4 tornado had just touched down and passed through the north part of the town, because no tornado warnings had been issued.
My brother, David Haneke, lives in Hoisington and I called him immediately to see what was happening. I got through on the telephone with no problems but knew the moment he answered that something bad had happened. He said he had been trying to call out for the past five minutes but could not get a dial tone. He, his wife and daughter were all OK. I asked him what had happened, and he said that he thought that a tornado had just passed through.
I then called Larry, KC0IFO, and asked him if help was needed, and he indicated it was. I contacted Carl, N0ORS, and told him I would pack my gear and head that way. N0ORS then put 146.76 on ARES emergency net operations until further notice. I called Kansas SEC Joseph Plankinton, WD0DMV, and let him know that a tornado had just passed through Hoisington and that I was en route.
When I arrived at the Hoisington Municipal Building Command Center at approximately 0030 hours, N0ORS; his wife Carol, N0YBR, his two sons, Duncan, KC0IVQ, and Robert, KC0IVR, and David Schraeder, KB0SJR, were there (Robert, Duncan and David all are Boy Scouts as well as amateurs). They, along with David Doonan, KI0NN, Chris Michael, KC0IPD, and Tim Parr, N0NZM, had established initial emergency communications in Hoisington. The Golden Belt Amateur Radio Club's Emergency Communication Bus also had arrived in town and was set up outside the Command Center with a 911 dispatcher on board.
Steve McAtee, N0JJO, was stationed at the EOC in Great Bend--11 miles away--and was serving as net control. The only link we had outside Hoisington was with Steve at the EOC via the 146.76 repeater. The outgoing phone line trunk had been damaged, and cellular phones in the area were useless as the system was grid-locked.
The local hospital had no power or telephone service. Initial operations included supporting medical personnel as they moved operations from the extensively damaged hospital to the triage station and on to a field hospital established in the gymnasium at the municipal building. Patients had either been transported to the hospital in Great Bend or to the nursing home in Hoisington, which was undamaged but also had neither power nor telephone.
Carl, N0ORS, went back to the EOC, and David, KI0NN, was placed at the nursing home for communication, while Tim, N0NZM, was deployed to the hospital.
A request for a generator from KI0NN at the nursing home was passed on to the city office. Within an hour the nursing home had back-up power enabling them to care for its residents and for patients transported from the local hospital.
"When the sun rose on Hoisington April 22, the degree of damage was evident to everyone. It was extensive." |
A number of emergency requests went out that evening and on into the early morning of the April 22. The field hospital was running dangerously low on oxygen tanks and tetanus vaccine, insulin, bandages and IV solutions. Many patients did not have the medications they needed. This kept N0NZM, KI0NN, N0ORS and me very busy during the night, coordinating the delivery and transport of these items. We had excellent support from the Sheriff's Department (Gerry Vaughn) and the Kansas Highway Patrol in transporting needed items into Hoisington.
Amy Miller at Barton County Emergency Management was at 911 and obtaining information from Steve, N0JJO. She was not able to obtain timely information from law enforcement. Flooding information from Rush county--just to the west of Barton--was forwarded to the National Weather Service in Wichita. South Hoisington later flooded, and highway access to the south was closed.
Sunday, April 22
"The only link we had outside Hoisington was with Steve, N0JJO, at the EOC through the 146.76 repeater. The outgoing phone line trunk had been damaged, and cellular phones in the area were useless as the system was grid-locked." |
When the sun rose on Hoisington April 22, the degree of damage was evident to everyone. It was extensive. It is a miracle that only one person lost his life, given the fact that no warnings were given. The tornado had formed and struck so fast that none of the warning systems had time to go operational.
Vic Lyczak, KB0QGX, from Russell took over net control at the field hospital and N0ORS was stationed at the EOC in Great Bend. Meanwhile, N0JJO and I went about trying to establish communications between the EMS garage--which was receiving incoming health-and-welfare calls--and the command center, and with the two other shelters the Red Cross was in the process of setting up. Newly arrived ham volunteers were stations at strategic points. Five amateurs from Hays arrived in Hoisington at approximately 1830 Sunday.
The storm took the roof off the Hoisington High School auditorium (rear building in this photo), and gutted a strip mall, the town's only grocery store, and a Dairy Queen where some people had taken shelter in a walk-in freezer. |
Net control Steve, N0JJO, was contacted Sunday morning to locate additional amateurs. Ellis County amateur pagers were activated and a meeting called at Ellis County EOC to organize a trip to Hoisington. Joe, WD0DMV, and Jim Zelter, WB0OAO, in Pratt, were called for assistance.
Monday, April 23
By Monday morning some organization had taken hold, and we were able to better establish an HF station at the EMS center for outbound health-and-welfare traffic. Roger Wilson, KD0AY, of the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) set up a station at the Salvation Army headquarters and handled outgoing H&W. Carol, N0YBR, was stationed at the EOC in Great Bend, providing a relay to a reliable landline for recruiting additional amateurs and arranging for locally available supplies.
David Schraeder, KB0SJR, was among those assisting the Red Cross aboard their emergency response vehicles. [Carl Anderson, N0ORS, Photo] |
Amateur Radio operators were stationed with the Red Cross Command Center, with the Disaster Assessment Teams, the Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles and at both Red Cross shelters. They were also placed at the hospital, nursing home, field hospital, Command Center, Salvation Army HQ and EMS Center.
By early afternoon the damage assessment teams had completed their work.
Tuesday, April 24
Mike Albers, K0FJ (left), and Bruce Frahm,
K0BJ, handling calls on 75 meters. |
As electricity and phone service were restored to the essential areas in the northern part of Hoisington, various amateur stations were taken out of active service. The Red Cross had received--and amateurs had installed-the low-band communication system for its ERVs. Things were starting to return to normal in all but the most heavily damaged areas of the town. Systems had been established to manage the tremendous influx of volunteer workers, equipment and supplies. At 1600 Net Control Ray Bishop, K0JFR, and Barton County EC Carl, N0ORS, decided to deactivate ARES and return 146.76 to routine amateur operation. A small amount of outbound H&W traffic was being handled by Lynn Grimes, KG0WQ, at the Salvation Army HQ and by Kevin, N0UWA at the EMS station.
|
Known participating amateurs and their respective duties:
|
(WG0Q advises that he's listed all participants that he was made aware of during the tornado response. If you contributed to the ARES emergency in Hoisington and are not listed, contact Robert Haneke, WG0Q, via e-mail, rhaneke@msn.com.)