Cascade Creek in Rochester, Minnesota.
Silver Lake Dam in Rochester, Minnesota.
West River Parkway in Rochester, Minnesota.
Cascade Creek meets the Zumbro River in Rochester, Minnesota.
Record rainfall and resultant flooding and mudslides in southeastern Minnesota over the past week disrupted communications and prompted emergency response officials to call upon Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) groups for communications assistance.
Olmsted County ARES was among the first to respond. Their members were rapidly deployed throughout the disaster area. As conditions deteriorated, the call for additional ARES assistance was made, and Scott County ARES was notified shortly after noon on Sunday, August 26. They were able to send three members to the disaster area to assist local emergency responders with communications.
Bob Minor, W0NFE, was dispatched to a Red Cross shelter set up in a church in Rochester, Olmstead County’s county seat. He provided a link to the emergency operations center (EOC) that was operating from an area near the Rochester airport. The shelter was able to suspend operations later Sunday evening.
Jeff Forseth, AC0DH, was sent to Rushford where he set up his radio equipment at the Rushford EOC. Jeff provided communications with the local shelter in Rushford, as well as a link to another Red Cross shelter at St Mary’s University in Winona. The river flowing though Rushford had jumped its banks and effectively split the town in two, with the EOC on one side and the shelter on the opposite bank of the flooded river. The staff at the EOC received anxious inquiries about family and friends and used the Amateur Radio link with the shelters to provide information to calm worried relatives.
Steve Kickert, W0GXO, was asked to go to Winona to help with communications in the Red Cross shelter. In response to a request from the Mayor of St Charles, he was diverted to provide additional Amateur Radio help -- the city needed to communicate between the EOC set up at the fire station, where Kickert was assigned, City Hall where disaster planning occurred and the shelters in St Charles and Winona.
Howard went to St Charles to assist with the Red Cross shelter that had been set up in the high school. After checking in with the Red Cross, he set up operations in his jeep and kept in touch with the Rochester repeater. “When the Mayor of St Charles requested amateur assistance, Howard contacted two hams to help him out. Kickert went to the fire station and Steve Huntsman, AA0P, went to City Hall,” Howard said. “We set up a simplex net on 146.595 between us, and I continued to maintain contact with Rochester and Winona. The Mayor was grateful for our presence and said his main concern was that we could stay in contact with Winona in case he needed help from Winona Police.” – Information provided by Bob Reid, N0BHC, Scott County ARES, and Steve Howard, AB0XE, Dakota County ARES
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