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G3LDI > DATA 09.12.07 20:26l 202 Lines 11416 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 34074-GB7LDI
Read: GUEST DL1DVE OE7FMI
Subj: Amateurs help in USA Storms
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Sent: 071209/1833Z 34074@GB7LDI.#35.GBR.EU [34075] FBB7.01.35 alpha $:34074-GB7
From: G3LDI@GB7LDI.#35.GBR.EU
To : DATA@WW
Hi.
Just thought some of you might be interested in the part played by amateur
radio in the USA in these storms. It might even be a good reason NOT to give
up on packet radio just yet! Or am I dreaming again............!
==> NORTHWEST US POUNDED BY STORMS, FLOODS; HAMS ACROSS REGION ACTIVATED
For the past week, the wake of fierce storms have ravaged the Pacific
Northwest, killing at least seven people and leading to widespread
flooding and mudslides that shut down roads and highways, including
Interstate 5; other infrastructure, such as telephone lines and
electricity, have been obliterated. The latest of three storms slammed
into the state on Monday, December 3, hitting hardest on the Olympic
Peninsula, Kitsap County and the southwestern corner of Washington state
as well as the northwest corner of Oregon, leaving at least 73,000
residents without power; more than 50,000 were still in the dark
Tuesday. Pacific Power said that nearly 36,000 of its customers were
still without power on Thursday. The storm overwhelmed a number of
sewage treatment plants, allowing tons of raw sewage to spew into Puget
Sound.
National Guard troops evacuated residents in Vernonia, Oregon on
Tuesday, December 4, and tens of thousands of residents remained without
power after the storms struck that state; Vernonia, a mountain timber
town of about 2200 residents on the Nehalem River, is about 35 miles
northwest of Portland. The town had been largely cut off by landslides
that blocked roads into the community, but Guard trucks with high
clearance were able to get in late Monday. The governors of Washington
and Oregon declared states of emergency, which could speed relief
efforts in flood-hit areas.
Throughout it all, Amateur Radio operators were there to help. In
Oregon, after a visit Tuesday to Vernonia, Governor Ted Kulongoski said,
"I'm going to tell you who the heroes were from the very beginning of
this...the ham radio operators. These people just came in and actually
provided a tremendous communication link to us." The Oregon Office of
Emergency Management said the radio operators were tireless in their
efforts to keep the systems connected. When even state police had
difficulty reaching some of their own troops, ham radio worked, setting
up networks so emergency officials could communicate and relaying lists
of supplies needed in stricken areas.
Amateur Radio's role in again providing communications when other
systems were destroyed or overloaded was not missed by the media. Many
TV, radio and newspaper items have appeared, praising the hams and
noting their service to the communities. ARRL Oregon Section Public
Information Coordinator Steve Sanders, KE7JSS, has been responding to
many media requests, including an article distributed via the Associated
Press. Portland's KATU Channel 2 spotlighted the role Amateur Radio
played throughout the storms
<http://www.hello-radio.org/video/oregon2.wmv>.
In Oregon, ARES is still providing communications to the coast, with
more than 60 volunteers working at the coast and many more at points in
between. The District One Emergency Radio Network was activated at 8 AM
Monday morning and was still in operation as of Thursday, December 6;
District One ARES serves Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Multnomah,
Tillamook and Washington counties -- the northwest corner of the state.
According to Sanders, "We are working closely with the American Red
Cross as well as the major hospitals, Heartnet radio network and
district-wide emergency managers, including the Oregon Office of
Emergency Management in Salem."
ARRL Oregon District One Emergency Coordinator David Kidd, KA7OZO, said,
"The Red Cross has set up two shelters in Tillamook County and four in
Columbia County. The Columbia County Emergency Center reported that
Astoria is without phone service and the outage is expected to remain so
for the rest of the week. Columbia County will continue to provide 911
service and relays for Clatsop County. The ham station continues to be
operational at the Vernonia Fire Department and has contact with Clatsop
and Columbia Counties and is relaying traffic as needed and will support
the Red Cross resupply operation in progress."
According to Sally Jones, Administrator for the Columbia 911
Communications District, "The 911 lines that would normally be answered
in Seaside and Astoria for callers in Clatsop County were diverted by
the phone company to the Columbia 911 Communications Center on a
temporary emergency basis. The emergency phone calls are being taken by
Columbia 911 staff who are relaying the information via Columbia County
and Clatsop County Amateur Radio Emergency Services volunteers to the
police fire and emergency medical dispatchers in Clatsop County, who
then are activating Clatsop County first responders." Clatsop County's
911 service also went down in the storm, but officials there relied on
ham radio operators to transmit messages, including information about
people in need.
The National Weather Service reported that flood warnings were issued
earlier in the week but cancelled a bit after midnight (PST) Thursday
for the Nehalem River near Foss, affecting Clatsop and Tillamook
Counties and South Yamhill River at McMinnville, affecting Yamhill
County. Flood warnings are still in effect Friday morning for the
Tualatin River at Farmington, affecting Washington County. Most rivers
across Washington and Oregon have crested and are falling below flood
stage. Flooding does continue on a few rivers with record flooding on
the Chehalis River in Washington and on the Tualatin River in Oregon.
According to ARRL Oregon Section Manager Bonnie Altus, AB7ZQ, telephone
and electric services were slowly coming back as of Thursday evening.
"It sounds like some telephones were starting to be restored in the
worst hit areas last night and today. Clatsop County got some phones
back for a few prefixes last night, and Vernonia started getting some
phones back this morning," she said.
"A medical clinic in Vernonia had to be relocated due to flood damage
and there are some medically fragile people in the Red Cross shelters
there," Altus said. "Where they had this shelter set up, landlines are
not readily available and cell phones are not always reliable, so the
net is continuing to support them." She said that the ARES net is
operating from 6 AM-9PM daily.
ARRL Western Washington Section Manager Jim Pace, K7CEX, said, "The
Washington and Oregon Coast and inland areas of Western Washington were
struck by extreme winds (maximum gusts of over 100 miles per hour) and
torrential rains. Although none of Western Washington was spared, the
counties of Grays Harbor, Pacific and Lewis seemed to be hit the
hardest. In Lewis County, where I live, dikes broke allowing three
rivers to flow over Interstate 5; most of the cities of Centralia,
Chehalis, and Adna were almost completely under water." Rescue
operations are being handled with helicopters from the US Coast Guard,
National Guard, Navy, King County Sheriff and Air Lift Northwest, Pace
said. "On Tuesday, the ham station at Thurston County EOC reported 60
people had been picked off of roof tops so far. Lewis County reported
similar situations with nearly 200 folks. Rescue operations will go
through the night again tonight."
Pace said that Southwest Washington has been "hit pretty hard. In fact,
the flooding has trapped me in my neighborhood. There are several teams
working to support assessment and rescue. Sheriff, Coast Guard and Navy
helicopters are picking folks off of rooftops and out of destroyed
homes. The water has closed Interstate 5 for about 20 miles -- at one
point the depth is 9 feet over the pavement."
In Washington, some 130 people had to be rescued from flooded areas by
Coast Guard helicopters. Mudslides and floods blocked roads, and
Interstate 5, the principal north-south route along the West Coast, was
closed near Centralia because of about 10 feet of water over the road.
Many schools and government offices were closed for a second day.
Mudslides also halted Amtrak passenger train service between Portland
and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Mudslides blocked numerous roads and forced an undetermined number of
residents to evacuate condominiums, apartments and houses in Seattle, at
least nine houses in suburban Burien and several mobile homes in
Shelton.
Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, who toured the ravaged region by
helicopter Tuesday, touched down at a high school shelter in Chehalis
and offered encouragement to the roughly 40 people staying there. She
also ordered a plane to deliver food and emergency supplies to the high
school in Pe Ell, about 25 miles to the west, because the roads were
blocked by water. "It's hard to comprehend 5-10 feet under until you see
those houses," Gregoire said. The governor also flew to the water's edge
on Interstate 5, which has been shut down since Monday at Centralia
because of flooding. On Tuesday, officials said a three mile section of
the road was under as much as 10 feet of water from the surging Chehalis
River.
Pace said that in Pacific County ARES members have been manning the
County Emergency Operations Center at South Bend "almost 24/7. Ham radio
has been the only reliable means of communications in the county since
the landline and cell phones have been out of service."
The Thurston County Department of Emergency Management activated ARES on
Tuesday, December 4 to support ongoing flood evacuation operations in
southwest portion of the county. The team staffed the County Emergency
Operations Center's radio room in Olympia and manned sites at the
Rochester Fire Station, various evacuation centers as well as landing
zones for the helicopter rescue teams. "They used Amateur Radio to
coordinate resources and limited tactical traffic between sites," Pace
said. "Hams were also primary operators on several county radio systems.
One ham was stationed at the Rochester helicopter landing zone all day
Tuesday, even though he knew his own business was in trouble from the
high water and will have to be rebuilt."
Other hams, Pace said, who were not activated, helped in other ways. "At
the request of local agencies, some filled sand bags while some manned
phones to take damage reports at Seattle's Office of Emergency
Management." Some teams have been activated but have not had an
opportunity to report. "Others, such as the Lewis County Team -- the
area hardest hit by the flood -- were cut off from traveling; however,
when the local 147.06 repeater failed, Lewis County hams got on simplex
and HF frequencies to check on each other and put themselves on standby
for deployment when roads became passable," he said.
Pace praised the amateurs in the Western Washington Section: "They train
the way they're going to respond, and they respond the way they are
trained. Some will report to duty and never see a microphone, but will
make copies, log data, empty wastebaskets, direct vehicle traffic and
fill sand bags -- whatever needs to be done -- and never complain once."
The ARRL will update this story on the ARRL Web site
<http://www.arrl.org> as more information becomes available. The main
priority of the Oregon and Western Washington Section leadership is
assisting their served agencies. As they update the ARRL, the
information will be posted online.
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