Amateurs Respond to Carolina Ice Storm
Jerry Davis, KE4TTS, handles the operating position at the emergency shelter at Cary High School on December 5. [Photo by KN4AQ] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Dec 6, 2002--Accompanied by the worst power outages since Hurricane Hugo in 1989, a severe snow-turned-ice storm swept along through the Carolinas early Thursday, December 5, prompting area Amateur Radio operators into action to help with the emergency.
"Sleet and snow began falling across the state Wednesday afternoon and evening, but overnight it turned to freezing rain," said ARRL North Carolina Section Public Information Coordinator Gary Pearce, KN4AQ. "SKYWARN nets operated overnight across the state, providing the NWS updated information on changing ground conditions."
Over 1.5 million people in North and South Carolina still were without power Friday, December 6, and power was not expected to be restored to many residents until after the weekend. Governor Mike Easley declared a state of emergency in North Carolina as a half-inch of ice coated practically everything in central North Carolina. Four people were killed in North Carolina because of the storm, with eight others dead in Arkansas and Kentucky.
With widespread power outages, tree-blocked roads and temperatures
uncharacteristically in the 20s, a number of North Carolina ARES groups
activated in their communities and hams provided support at numerous shelters
across the state. ARES in Guilford County supported four shelters, the Red
Cross and the county's Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Alamance County hams
provided damage assessments to county emergency management teams, Wake County
ARES supported four shelters, ARES in Gaston County was at two shelters and
the county EOC, Harnett County hams helped at five shelters and amateurs in
Nash County provided almost all communications from the town of Rocky Mount,
according to Pearce. While a statewide ARES net was not activated December 5,
the North Carolina state EOC in Raleigh was staffed with hams helping to pass
traffic between there, county EOC and the state's 25 open shelters.
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Double whammy: Ice covered, then a tree fell on and downed, the antenna system of Jim Mabry, KT4II, in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. He also lost power. "I was still able to operate 2-meter SKYWARN thanks to battery backup system," he said. |
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"In the Raleigh/Durham area, there were long lines at the few grocery stores
and gas stations that were able to open," Pearce pointed out. "Many repeaters
remained on the air with emergency power and hams passed tips on where to find
open stores, gas, batteries and other supplies."