A National Hurricane Center graphic (click to update) showing the position and projected path of Hurricane Ivan as of September 16, 1500 UTC.
A National Hurricane Center graphic (click to update) showing the position and projected path of Hurricane Ivan as of September 16, 1500 UTC. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 16, 2004--Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) teams were ready and waiting as Hurricane Ivan (click link for latest forecast) slammed into the US Gulf Coast early today. Packing 115 MPH winds as it made landfall, Ivan zeroed in on the Mobile Bay area of Alabama, but because of its huge girth, the storm also affected the Florida Panhandle as well as Mississippi. New Orleans, which is below sea level, was spared a major flooding disaster. As of 1500 UTC, Hurricane Ivan, a Category 1 storm with 75 MPH winds and weakening, was making its way across Alabama. Alabama ARES will remain on red alert--the highest possible level--until Ivan passes through the state. Section Emergency Coordinator Jay Isbell, KA4KUN, in central Alabama, reports ham radio has been helping relief agencies, especially in the southernmost counties.
"Right now the adrenaline's still up," he said of the volunteers now staffing a statewide ARES communication network that's a combination of HF and local VHF repeaters. "Most everybody south of us is operating on emergency power, and I expect we will go to that as soon as it gets up here. Everybody's ready for emergency power."
As of 1500 UTC, the National Hurricane Center had posted a tropical storm warning from the mouth of the Pearl River to Apalachicola, Florida. All coastal warnings elsewhere have been discontinued.
Isbell said cell phone service in southern Alabama remains a little spotty, but telephone service is intact in most areas outside of those hardest hit. In Baldwin and Mobile counties--which straddle Mobile Bay--telephone service is largely out, however, so ham radio is providing a substantial communication link, Isbell said. "We're giving their messages priority."
The Alabama ARES Net on 3965 kHz is coordinating with local repeaters through local liaison stations. "We've been having real good luck passing traffic between the 2-meter repeaters and the HF net, and all of the state emergency operations centers are on that net," Isbell told ARRL. Most of the traffic has been logistical--requests for shelter cots, tarpaulins and generators--"but they've also asked for three four-wheel drive vehicles and a helicopter for search and rescue as well as damage assessment," he said.
ARES has been providing communication support for the Red Cross, The Salvation Army and the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief organization. Communicators are with each of those organizations' teams with ARES operators also shadowing field personnel as needed, Isbell explained.
"The shelters have filled up real fast, a lot faster than they anticipated," Isbell reported, adding that a lot of people evacuated. "Everybody was taking it seriously."
ARES already is assisting with damage assessment activity. "We're using GPSs for the first time on the damage assessment and cleanup and recovery," Isbell said, noting that in the wake of a serious storm, "a lot of times, the street signs are gone."
ARES Volunteers Needed in Northern Florida
Northern Florida Section Traffic Manager Dale Sewell, N4SGQ, has issued a call for ARES volunteers in his section. They should contact Sewell (850-514-1211 or 850-501-0536) or ARRL Northern Florida Section Manager Rudy Hubbard, WA4PUP (850-626-0620 or 850-380-7965), who's been working in the Santa Rosa emergency communications center. Prospective volunteers outside Northern Florida should contact their local Emergency Coordinator, District Emergency Coordinator or Section Emergency Coordinator. Incoming help must first be assigned an official Florida "tracker number."
A situation report from Western Panhandle ARES District Coordinator Bill Hayden, WY8O, indicated that damage assessment is under way in Okaloosa County, where multiple repeaters were taken out by the storm and telephones are out. There are three shelters open and more on the way. The storm took out the Interstate 10 bridge over Escambia Bay.
In Santa Rosa County, there's massive flooding in the southern part of the county and some fatalities, Sewell said. Storm refugees are anticipated.
In Escambia County, five shelters and four hospitals sustained storm damage.
In Fort Walton Beach, Florida--some 50 miles east of where Ivan came ashore, ARRL Southeastern Division Director Frank Butler, W4RH, reports winds peaked at 80 MPH early this morning. Power is out in Fort Walton Beach, Butler told ARRL Headquarters.
He also reports that he lost the top antenna on his tower and one of the guy wires, but the tower remains standing, his house is intact and he didn't lose any big trees. Butler has been running a generator intermittently to conserve gas--a commodity that could be in short supply for a while.
Mississippi
In Mississippi, ARRL SM Malcolm Keown, W5XX, reports "significant interference" on occasion to the West Gulf ARES Net "from other people who just would not move," he said. "People just were not being cooperative." Operating in accordance with a memorandum of understanding among the ARRL Louisiana, Mississippi and South Texas sections, the net has been using 7285 kHz for daylight operations and 3873 kHz evenings.
Outside of the interference, Keown says, the net operation went smoothly. "We did pass traffic between the emergency management post in Jackson and the coast quite a bit last night," he reported. Most of the traffic was tactical, he said, to help the Red Cross to get needed equipment and supplies.
Keown also reported that ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, stepped in to restore the fallen dipole antenna of West Gulf ARES Net National Traffic System Coordinator Carolyn Womack, KC5OZT, who's also North Texas Section Traffic Manager.
"He went over and fixed it, and by 4 o'clock she was back on the air, so chalk one up for the ARRL president!" Keown said.
Hurricane Watch Net, WX4NHC Secure Operations; Await Hurricane Jeanne
 A National Hurricane Center graphic (click to update) showing the position and projected path of Hurricane Jeanne as of September 16, 1500 UTC. |
The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) on 14.325 MHz secured operations for Hurricane Ivan at approximately 1245 UTC today. But HWN Manager Mike Pilgrim, K5MP, says it now appears that Hurricane Jeanne (click link to update forecast)--now a Category 1 storm with winds near 80 MPH--soon will be within striking distance of the Turks and Caicos and the southern Bahamas. As of 1500 UTC, the storm was about 80 miles east-northeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
"If this projection holds true with the 5 AM advisory tomorrow, then we need to be here to open the HWN net at 0800 EDT," Pilgrim alerted HWN members.
The nearly continuous activations over the past four weeks have taken a toll on HWN members, Pilgrim told ARRL. He notes that member John Ellis, NP2B, in St Croix, US Virgin Islands, lost commercial power September 15, "which further compounds his effectiveness after totally losing his voice a few days earlier," Pilgrim noted. Meanwhile, Beryl Nelson, VP5DB, in the Turks and Caicos, now finds himself in the path of Hurricane Jeanne. "He'll have his head--and antennas--down for the next day or two," Pilgrim remarked.
Meanwhile, Don Kay, K0IND, in Panama City Beach, Florida, was put out of action September 15 after a close encounter with a killer tornado. "He and his home are okay, but he is without commercial power," Pilgrim said, adding that HWN member Fletcher Henderson, KA4BPR, in Dothan, Alabama, is sitting in the aftermath of Ivan as it moves inland.
"Given that the remaining 30 members also have jobs to hold down, their availability during prime time daylight weekday hours is severely limited," Pilgrim said. "We all certainly welcome the one-day respite while we catch our breath for the next siege."
The HWN coordinates its activities with WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center to gather real-time ground-level weather data and damage reports from Amateur Radio volunteers in a storm's path and relay these to forecasters. WX4NHC, which also secured operations for Hurricane Ivan today, regularly checks into the net and also disseminates weather updates. WX4NHC likely will reactivate for Hurricane Jeanne, although storm damage has taken a toll on WX4NHC's all-volunteer staff.
This hurricane season WX4NHC has been taking advantage of IRLP and EchoLink technology in addition to the HWN on HF. According to Assistant Amateur Radio Coordinator Julio Ripoll, WD4R, the new VOIPWX Net, has been a tremendous asset, providing access to stations without HF privileges that would not otherwise be available. The VOIPWX Net also provides streaming audio.
The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) on 14.265 MHz continues to handle health-and-welfare inquiries in the wake of hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan. SATERN works closely with the HWN and the Maritime Mobile Service Net to garner reports from their net frequencies, and it stands ready to handle emergency communications from storm-affected areas. SATERN also takes health-and-welfare inquiries via its Web site.
Areas in the path of the remnants of Hurricane Ivan could be in for heavy rainfall and possible tornadoes, the National Hurricane Center says. The Tennessee HF ARES Net now is in emergency standby mode in anticipation of the storm's arrival there.
HF ARES Net Manager Jimmy Floyd, NQ4U, urges all District Emergency Coordinators and Emergency Coordinators to establish liaison stations to monitor 3980 and 7238 kHz over the next day or two.
"Ivan
is expected to be a major rainmaker for Tennessee, as well as generate windy
conditions," he said. "All stations are urged to monitor local SKYWARN and ARES
nets as conditions dictate."
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