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More than 100 Hams Still Volunteering in Hurricane-Hit States
NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 5, 2005--The Amateur Radio community has continued to respond to calls for volunteers to support communication for served agencies in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Louisiana Section Emergency Coordinator Gary Stratton, K5GLS, says about 45 Amateur Radio volunteers are still on hurricane relief and recovery duty there. Volunteers initially thought to be needed for a FEMA operation in Louisiana were redirected to South Texas, however.
"Things are settling down," Stratton told ARRL today. "Our commitment for operators has been met. It looks as though things are being handled mostly by local hams." Most of the ham radio volunteers are in the Lake Charles and New Orleans areas in addition to those working under an ARES District Emergency Coordinator, he said.
In Texas, South Texas ARRL Section Manager Ray Taylor, N5NAV, reports at least two Amateur Radio volunteers will be heading into the Beaumont area and should be there by midday October 6. They'll support communication for The Salvation Army operations there, he said. Beaumont has not yet been reopened to returning evacuees, but relief and recovery operations are under way. In Orange, Taylor said James Aaron, K5SUB, has set up at the local hospital on VHF to support American Red Cross relief activities there. Taylor said he anticipates the arrival of state disaster relief support crews and equipment in Orange as early as this weekend.
"We're beginning to get people into Jasper," Taylor noted. "That's the main area right now. We had a bit of a rough time getting HF operators in there, but now we're beginning to get them in." He estimated upward of 60 Amateur Radio volunteers were on the ground in Texas, many supporting American Red Cross-sponsored and makeshift shelters scattered throughout the area. Taylor said there are more than 200 shelters still open, housing some 30,000 flood evacuees from both recent hurricanes.
Taylor said that Robert McWhorter, K5PFE, in Jasper has been repairing his 2-meter repeater there, and efforts are under way to get a portable repeater on the air in the town of Buna to support communication requirements there.
North Texas SEC Bill Swan, K5MWC, has been helping to recruit and schedule ARES members from his section to assist in mass-care operations in Jasper. Taylor says radio amateurs in North Texas and Arkansas have been helping to cover net control shifts and to serve as relay stations for the West Gulf ARES Emergency Net on 7.285 MHz days/3.873 MHz evenings.
In Mississippi, ARRL SM Malcolm Keown, W5XX, reports he and Bob Bell, N1OCM, from Connecticut have been volunteering for the past few days at the Harrison County emergency operation center (EOC). Amateur Radio operations in Gulfport secured October 4, he said, and the Hancock County EOC was scheduled to move to a new location October 5. Keown said Gulfport resident Tom Hammack, W4WLF, is continuing to assist there until ham radio communication support is no longer needed.
The American Red Cross still has about three dozen shelters open within or north of the Mississippi coastal counties of Harrison, Hancock and Jackson.
Page last modified: 06:31 PM, 05 Oct 2005 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
Copyright © 2005, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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