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 Previous: In Brief |  Next: Plan for a Successful ARRL Field Day--Your Club Will Benefit |
NEWINGTON, CT, May 8, 2002--Amateurs in West Virginia continue to assist in the wake of flooding late last week, and more heavy rain is in the weather forecast. The state has recorded nine deaths since severe thunderstorms May 2 dumped more than five inches of rain over the southern West Virginia coalfields within a few hours.
ARRL West Virginia Section Emergency Coordinator Mac McMillian, W8XF, says several roads in the hardest-hit region in and around Welch and Webster counties remain closed due to flood damage, and "uncounted" families have been forced from their homes. Schools in McDowell County remain closed. Gov Bob Wise has declared a state of emergency in several counties.
"Amateur Radio involvement has been done locally on battery-powered repeaters in the affected areas." McMillian said this week. Amateurs from the Charleston area have volunteered to assist in Welch County. McMillian said amateurs were able to handle a request from the state Emergency Operations Center to provide back-up communication from Welch to the state EOC in Charleston.
"A coal mine water impound dam was failing, and the state Office of Emergency Services official on the scene had no faith in his cell phone," McMillian said. "He sent me word by 2 meters to get someone on a high location between Charleston and Welch to relay." The distance was about 60 miles line-of-sight but over mountainous terrain.
McMillian said West Virginia State Government Liaison Bill Hunter, K8BS, and West Virginia State Traffic Coordinator Don Lemley, W8DL, took up the challenge. "The good news is the impound was pumped down to safe levels before the dam could burst," McMillian reported.
Raleigh County Emergency Coordinator Tim Zutaut, KC8PMI, said this week that Raleigh County ARES/RACES was keeping a link open and monitoring the 145.45 MHz repeater in Welch. A McDowell County ARES group has been using the repeater to assist with communications into and out of the county, he said. "Our group is set up at the Red Cross to assist them with any traffic and needs they may have," he told McMillian. "From the reports I have received, the damage there [McDowell County] is very extensive."
McMillian said the McDowell County 911 center was flooded, and more than two-thirds of the telephones in the affected area were not functional in the immediate aftermath of the flooding. Some cellular telephone sites have remained operational, however.
Salvation Army teams this week began assessing damage in McDowell County even as torrential rain continued to fall. Auxiliary Salvation Army Capt Bob Mullins said, "People were flagging us down as we traveled through the North Fork section of McDowell County." The Salvation Army has opened shelters to aid families stranded due to rising waters.
"Once again, water rules in West Virginia," McMillian said. It's been less than a year since the last severe flooding struck parts of the state.
The National Weather Service was predicting additional heavy showers, and a flood watch has been extended to 24 counties in West Virginia as well as additional counties in Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio.
In Virginia, flooding in Buchanan County affected more than 2500 residents and caused damage estimated at $30 million. Two people drowned in the community of Hurley. Flooding also affected Pike County, Kentucky.
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