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 Previous: Surfin': Down on the Antenna Farm |  Next: Amateur Radio Nets Active as Katrina Comes Ashore |
NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 28, 2005--With the dangerous and powerful Hurricane Katrina drawing a bead on New Orleans, thousands of residents there and elsewhere along Louisiana's Gulf Coast have been heading out of town or to storm shelters. Officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for New Orleans, and say power and water service could be lost when the Category 5 storm strikes. The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) on 14.325 MHz has activated. The net works in cooperation with WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center (NHC), which is calling Katrina "potentially catastrophic." HWN Assistant Net Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, says the net's mission at this point is to compile a list of stations in the affected area that can be available--primarily with measured weather data--beginning at 1300 UTC Monday morning.
"As usual, during any net activation, we encourage all mariners and residents in and around the affected area to come to the net frequency (14.325 MHz) for all the latest information and for the purpose of providing reports of conditions in your area," Graves said.
Mississippi ARRL Section Manager Malcolm Keown, W5XX, says the West Gulf ARES Emergency Net will activate on 3873 kHz at midnight Central Daylight Time (0500 UTC). The West Gulf ARES Emergency Net combines the resources of the Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Texas sections for mutual support during emergencies affecting the region. Based on recent 40-meter propagation, Keown anticipates that much of the net's operation will continue on 75 meters, although the net may shift to its daytime frequency of 7285 kHz at the net control's discretion.
Stations not involved in emergency traffic or participating in the net are asked to give the operation a clear frequency.
"Checkins will be limited to served agencies as well as to stations with emergency, priority, and weather-related traffic, or to stations in the affected storm event area with information or inquiries," Keown said. "All other stations should monitor the frequency. There will be periods of silence, but this is necessary to keep the frequency clear for emergency or priority traffic."
The HWN provides storm-related information into and out of the storm, to aid forecasters in predicting the storm's behavior. The net does not handle health-and-welfare traffic. Graves referred inquiries to the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) on 14.265 MHz or to the SATERN Web site, which includes a link to file a health-and-welfare inquiry.
As of 0000 UTC August 29, Katrina, packing sustained winds near 160 MPH with higher gusts, was some 130 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River, moving north-northwesterly at near 11 MPH, although a turn the north is expected.
The Gulf Coast already has begun to feel the impact of Katrina, which has resurrected memories--and fears--of Hurricane Camille, which devastated the area in 1969. The major concern in New Orleans is the potential for flooding, since the city sits below sea level.
"Coastal storm-surge flooding of 18 to 22 feet above normal tide levels, locally as high as 28 feet, along with large and dangerous battering waves, can be expected near and to the east of where the center makes landfall," the NHC said. Some levees in the greater New Orleans area could be overtopped. Significant storm-surge flooding will occur elsewhere along the central and northeastern Gulf of Mexico coast.
The NHC says the storm's center will be near the northern Gulf Coast early Monday morning, but conditions continue to deteriorate along portions of the central and northeastern Gulf Coast, and they will continue to worsen through the night.
A hurricane warning is in effect for the north-central Gulf Coast from Morgan City, Louisiana, eastward to the Alabama/Florida border, including the city of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. The NHC says preparations to protect life and property should be completed this evening.
Graves says the HWN is seeking measured and/or observed ground-level weather data from affected areas. The National Hurricane Center may request data coming from specific locations or meeting specific criteria, such as sustained winds exceeding 35 knots or rapidly degrading conditions.
"Throughout this event, we remind everyone that we are also available to provide backup communication facilities to official agencies such as emergency operations centers and Red Cross officials in the affected area," Graves said. "We will also be interested to collect and report significant damage assessment data back to FEMA officials stationed in the National Hurricane Center."
The HWN asks stations not to check into the net unless specifically requested to do so. "We will attempt to handle all communications within the capabilities of our own members," he said, "and only when required assistance is needed will we ask for your help."
The HWN likely will report other emergency frequencies that have been set up by local Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) teams in affected areas.
Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth of the FCC's Enforcement Bureau does not anticipate the need for an Emergency Communications Declaration (ECD) to accommodate HF emergency nets or SATERN. "Section 97.101(c) gives priority to emergency communications at all times," he pointed out.
The HWN Web site includes storm forecasts, advisories and graphics. However the site has been experiencing unprecedented traffic loads on its Web server that may slow the system's response time.
| Previous: Surfin': Down on the Antenna Farm | Next: Amateur Radio Nets Active as Katrina Comes Ashore |
