Ham Radio Still Responding to IKE Need
Newington, CT Sept 19, 2008 -- ARES ham radio operators are currently serving at almost all of the Points of Distribution (PODs), Emergency Operations Centers and with many VOAD groups in the response to Hurricane Ike in the Houston-Galveston area. These Amateur Radio operators (often called “hams”) are providing supplemental communications and currently are quite busy in two major areas of activity: aiding communications between EOCs and the National Guard and in coordination and reporting of shipments of supplies to PODs. ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio, is the parent organization of the Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) program and has been following requests for Amateur Radio deployments around the country in the past week.
The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) is very similar to ARES and most ham radio responders belong to both groups. RACES is a government program whose Amateur Radio members are assigned to specific, local EOCs.
The actual work of the hams began long before the hurricane hit. It started with the National Hurricane Center’s Hurricane Watch Program and the National Weather Services’ Skywarn program. Ground level reports were sent allowing for more accurate predictions and planning. While most hams evacuated along with the majority of the population, those who stayed came up on the airwaves again shortly after the winds died and reported on initial damage assessments in areas of Houston and Galveston.
In Harris County alone, 26 PODs were opened and Amateur Radio operators are stationed at them. They report supply needs of the PODs to the Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management at a regional facility known as TRANSTAR. TRANSTAR is the county command center for municipalities and agencies in Harris County during emergencies.
POD managers create a supply list which is given to the ham operator on site who relays the information to the HCOHSEM. There, the information is passed to county officials for processing. There is supply base at the Reliant Complex where orders were filled and supplies shipped.
Each hour, hams at the POD stations report the status of their supplies to TRANSTAR. FEMA officials can hear the messages at the individual PODs and can request information or an additional amateur station as needed. This gives officials greater real time situational status.
Currently, the manpower needs for ARES to continue its operations serving the EOCs and PODs is being met by local volunteer hams. Amateur Radio operators from other ARES units throughout Texas are now coming in to relieve the initial responders. Many of the initial responders are victims themselves and need to tend to their own families and homes. Plans are in place to deploy more ARES Amateur Radio operators from surrounding states if needed.
According to Joe Gadus, KD5KTX, an ARRL Public Information Officer in greater Houston, members of ARES’ South Texas District 14 -- under the leadership of District Emergency Coordinator Jeff Walter, KE5FGA, “Hams will be providing communications between the National Guard units at the PODs and the Harris County Office of Emergency Management to coordinate the delivery and resupply of food, water and MREs (meals ready to eat) to the victims of Hurricane Ike," he said. "Most of the participating amateurs are also victims [of the storm], having suffered property losses and power outages expected to last approximately three weeks."
According to ARRL South Texas Public Information Coordinator Lee Cooper, W5LHC, Texas State RACES is manning the station at the State EOC and the hams’ Saltgrass/SWLynx linked repeater system is running a linked UHF/VHF Net at the request of State EOC. "They are mostly handling reports of where there is and is not power and gas," he said. "All of us up and down I-35 corridor are all standing by awaiting requests [to assist]. We've received lots of damage reports.
I suspect that the areas where we may be needed are either still blocked from access due to road debris or flooding, or possibly so much of the towns are just gone that communication [assistance] is not going to make a difference."
While Hurricane Ike, as well as Tropical Storm Lowell, caused severe damage in and around the impact zone of the Texas Gulf Coast, the storm's aftermath was felt as far north as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. Just like their counterparts on the Gulf Coast, ARES members in the Midwest are assisting served agencies in their area.
Ohio
On Wednesday, ARRL District Emergency Coordinator for Ohio District 4 Robert Spratt, N8TVU, reported that the Butler County Emergency Management Agency had requested ARES assistance after hurricane-force winds of up to 78 MPH blew through Ohio on Sunday, causing damage in 84 of the state's 88 counties.
Illinois
In Illinois, the Grundy County ARES team was activated. Bob Cockream, AA9EE reported their VHF radio repeater was closed to all but flood-related and emergency traffic. They supplied communications to the Red Cross shelter at the Coal City High School and to the village hall to help with both radio and phones. Seven other EMA/ARES members working the field aided with delivering sand bags and checking in on residents, as well as checking water levels, and reporting back to the village hall.
Indiana
In Indiana, Harrison County had an official ARES activation. According to AEC Scott Taylor, K9SET, the area had no phones -- either landline or cell -- or electricity. "I recorded several 70 MPH gusts on Monday, and there are many, many trees and power lines down, as well as major structural damage to homes and business here in my town of Corydon.”
In Dearborn County hams will be doing disaster damage surveys later this week for the Dearborn County Homeland Security Agency.
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