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 Previous: Show Them the Magic! |  Next: ARRL 2005 Holiday Toy Drive Shifts into High Gear |
REVISED Nov 17, 2005 11:26 ET
NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 17, 2005--Just weeks after assisting in hurricane relief efforts along the Gulf Coast and in Florida, Amateur Radio volunteers are responding in the wake of yet another weather emergency. Strong thunderstorms resulting from a clash of cold and warm fronts in the nation's midsection spawned tornadoes in several states. The nearly three dozen twisters reported November 15 in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri came a little more than a week after tornadoes killed more than 20 people in Indiana and days after another string hit Iowa, resulting in one death. Some 8000 customers were reported without electrical power in the five affected states, but Kentucky appears to have been the hardest hit.
"Nets for SKYWARN were activated all across the affected areas," Kentucky Section Emergency Coordinator Ron Dodson, KA4MAP, reported November 16. "We also had the state EOC [emergency operations center] on the air on 3.993 MHz last night as we were trying to get emergency information into and out of the affected areas." Dodson told ARRL Headquarters that WX4NWS at the Louisville National Weather Service (NWS) office was active during the afternoon and evening of November 15 as forecasters tried to keep up with the rapidly developing weather.
"At times, warnings came faster than one could reset their SAME [Specific Area Message Encoder] Alert receivers!" Dodson said. "I know Paducah was also kept busy."
One person died in the Marshall County town of Benton, where a tornado did severe damage to a mobile home park. Upward of two dozen other people were hurt, Dodson added.
Kentucky Area 2 District Emergency Coordinator Nick Bailey, KG4URI, reports that a tornado ripped through the southern end of Madisonville. He estimated that up to 30 ARES and RACES volunteers deployed throughout Hopkins County. "County communications were restored within 15 minutes of the storm," he reports. "We have a lot of damage but so far no fatalities."
On November 16, three ARES teams accompanied search-and-rescue (SAR) teams going door-to-door. Each team was equipped with a handheld transceiver with APRS capability and GPS attached for tracking purposes. "Amateur radio provided mostly SAR communications as the police repeaters were still up," Bailey added.
He reports preliminary estimates of 35 to 40 homes severely damaged or destroyed in the Madisonville area and possibly 10 in Earlington. At least two dozen people were reported injured in Hopkins County, and the count was expected to rise. A confirmed touchdown also occurred in Sharps.
Steve Morgan, W4NHO, an ARRL Great Lakes Division assistant director, reported a tornado was tracked from Dawson Spring through Owensboro and into southeastern Indiana. "I spoke with the deputy EMA director in Hopkins County, Frank Wright, KA4IGR," he said. "Amateur Radio is the only reliable communications they have at the moment due to power outages." Telephone service also was reported out in parts of Kentucky.
Indiana's latest encounter with tornadoes was not nearly as severe as that of November 6. One person was reported killed in Hancock County after a car went out of control after running into water on the pavement.
Indiana SEC Dave Pifer, N9YNF, said the damage this time was largely "hit and miss" across the state.
"I know the SKYWARN programs were hopping yesterday as we tracked the storms through the area," he said. "At one point they would only take tornado/funnel reports and significant damage reports because there was so much going on."
Illinois SM Shari Harlan, N9SH, says her section seems to have largely escaped the tornado outbreak. "It appears that while some straight line winds toppled some structures in the Wabash, Edwards and Lawrence county area, they escaped the afternoon round of storms," she said. She did note one report of definite rotational echoes, however.
Iowa SEC Jim Snapp, NA0R, said Amateur Radio volunteers responded after a series of eight tornadoes within a few hours hit central Iowa November 12. The twisters hit parts of eight counties, he said, and one person was killed.
"Homes, business and farmsteads were damaged or destroyed as the tornadoes rampaged through the Iowa countryside and in some small communities," he said. According to Snapp, K0DMX at the NWS Des Moines office started getting reports of hail and tornado activity around 3:45 PM CDT. "Amateur reports as well as other sources of storm information enabled the NWS staff to send out updates to the storms activity and its path to the public," he said. A dozen hams contributed reports to the SKYWARN net, he said.
At one point, one storm appeared headed for Ames, the home of Iowa State University where some 40,000 spectators were on hand for a football game. They were evacuated as the NWS, with Amateur Radio assistance, monitored the situation.
"An F0/F2 tornado did pass a few miles west of the stadium around 5 PM," Snapp said. "Patrons were allowed to return, and the game got underway about 45 minutes late."
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