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 Previous: ARRL President Congratulates Centenarian Life Member W3DHL |  Next: Tampere Convention Eases International Emergency Telecommunications |
 Vern Garman, K0EGA (in yellow vest), of Clark County ARES was among those assisting in a Red Cross preliminary damage assessment in the Logandale area. [Bob Mathewson, KE7BPT, Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 19, 2005--The same weather system that caused flooding and mudslides in California--including a mudslide in La Conchita that took 10 lives--wreaked havoc elsewhere in the western US the week of January 10. Heavy rainfall in the southeastern Nevada region bordering Utah and Arizona combined with runoff from melting snow, causing rivers and streams to overrun their banks. The resulting flooding damaged or destroyed dozens of homes in the area northeast of Las Vegas. Early on in the emergency, the National Weather Service (NWS) contacted Clark County, Nevada, Emergency Coordinator Charlie Kunz, AA5QJ, to request help from his team.
"They had lost a level detector on the Muddy River near
Glendale and asked if someone could get them reports," said Vern Garman, K0EGA,
the Clark County ARES Assistant EC for Operations and Training. Starting
January 10, radio amateurs from the Logandale/Overton area provided information
to the NWS for the next three days.
 In addition to damaging or destroying homes and displacing residents, flood waters washed out highways in several areas. [Bob Mathewson, KE7BPT, Photo] |
In addition, Garman reports, the Clark County Office of Emergency Management activated the emergency operations center (EOC) on January 11, and ARES deployed a volunteer to the EOC for about one day. After flooding displaced some area residents, the American Red Cross opened a shelter in Overton, and Logandale/Overton-area ARES volunteers provided communication support. At least five ARES members also aided the Red Cross in preliminary damage assessment activities.
On January 15, the Red Cross requested ARES support in Mesquite, and six amateurs from Las Vegas and one from Overton responded. "This group assisted in setting up the Red Cross communications van and provided communications for outreach teams searching for the people who needed Red Cross assistance," Garman explained. The outreach activity was centered in the northeastern corner of Arizona, near Littlefield and Beaver Dam, he said. A road washout cut off access to Beaver Dam, and some two dozen homes were damaged or destroyed.
Southern Nevada District Emergency Coordinator Glenn Hale,
KB7REO, said communications support to the Red Cross consisted of installing an
antenna on the mobile communications vehicle and programming the Icom IC-706MKIIG
transceiver aboard for area repeaters. Hale noted that the Red Cross emergency
response vehicles (ERVs) primarily use the 30-50 MHz Public Safety band to
communicate to their command post. Garman said one of the responders, Jack
Cook, N8RRL, had Red Cross communication support training and had operated one
in Florida after last year's hurricanes.
 ARES volunteers took part in a Red Cross outreach to flood zones in Nevada and Arizona. [Vern Garman, K0EGA, Photo] |
Two vehicles owned by Red Cross personnel served as secondary ERVs, Hale said, and he and Dan Starr, AA7I, supported that effort in Littlefield by shadowing the group with HF/VHF communication. Most activity was within the Virgin River Gorge, and nearly all communication to the command post was via the Utah Hill 146.820 repeater.
"Bridges to the community were completely washed out making access to the community difficult," Hale reported. "The St George, Utah, American Red Cross kitchen was supplying food to the ERVs. At one location in Beaver Dam, 55 meals were served."
Hale said some homes in the region around Littlefield and just across the border in Mesquite were damaged or destroyed by floodwaters and mud. Conventional telephone and some cellular service in the area was out completely, and the Red Cross used a satellite uplink to communicate with its national headquarters from the communications van.
Garman says the support for the Red Cross continued
through the weekend and ended when the organization completed its outreach
program on the evening of January 16. In all, more than a dozen ARES volunteers
responded to the weather emergency.
| Previous: ARRL President Congratulates Centenarian Life Member W3DHL | Next: Tampere Convention Eases International Emergency Telecommunications |
