HAMS PROVIDE VITAL LINK DURING KENTUCKY FLOODING More than three dozen Kentucky hams helped to fill a communication void when parts of the Bluegrass State were struck by flooding during the first few days of March that knocked out conventional communication systems and blocked highways. Members of the Northern Kentucky Amateur Radio Club--42 in all and a lot of them retired--found themselves spread pretty thinly when flooding along the Licking River cut off the town of Falmouth. Among them was John Meyers, N4GNL, the DEC for Kentucky's seventh district (which includes Boon, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton, Owen and Pendleton counties). The hams provided emergency backup communication (and in some instances the only communication) for several Kentucky counties, earning the praise of local officials. "We couldn't have done what we did without them," is how Craig Peoples, the Pendleton County disaster and emergency services director put it in a story in the March 31, 1997, edition of The Kentucky Enquirer newspaper. Falmouth Police Chief Greg Reis was more direct. "Those Amateur Radio operators were the only communication we had," he's quoted as saying in a report in The Kentucky Post of March 22, 1997.
Hams participated in flood recovery operations for several days after the disaster struck. In addition to handling messages, amateurs helped call in ambulances to handle health-related emergencies, traveled with the National Guard and other recovery teams in boats to emergency operations sites, helped deliver food and supplies, and helped tabulate lists of the missing. Meyers said he could have used twice as many hams, but he and the community were grateful for those who volunteered their time, effort and equipment to help others.
Fifteen hams from the Dayton, Ohio, area spent the weekend assisting the Red Cross with damage assessment in the wake of the flooding along the Ohio, Licking and Kentucky Rivers. In addition, the Dayton Amateur Radio Association communications van was stationed in Falmouth, Kentucky, on March 8, and in the Brooksville, Kentucky, area on March 9.
In addition to the hams from Kentucky and Ohio, amateurs from Florida, Georgia and Alabama also are reported to have pitched in during the flooding emergency. At least 75 hams have been cited to receive ARRL Public Service certificates in recognition of their efforts, according to Paul Mitchell, N4DUE, Kentucky's SEC. --Thanks to John Meyers, N4GNL; Bev Priest, N8VZV; and Steve McCallum, W2ZBY