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 Previous: Fixing a Flat, Playing the Didgeridoo: Kids Get Answers from Space via Ham Radio | ![Next (later) Story](/images/sty-up.gif "ARRL "Hello" Campaign Video Now Available"){kind=small} Next: ARRL "Hello" Campaign Video Now Available |
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 5, 2006--Amateur Radio volunteers in northwestern Tennessee and elsewhere were active April 2 when a string of tornadoes struck the Midwest and South. The severe weather left more than two dozen people dead and many injured, most of them in Tennessee. ARRL Tennessee Section Emergency Coordinator Jimmy Floyd, NQ4U, reports SKYWARN volunteers relayed reports to the National Weather Service Office in Memphis as the twisters approached.
"Several
hams were active in the Dyersburg-Newbern area Sunday night passing local
traffic for the area folks needing to let relatives know that they were okay,"
Floyd told ARRL. "According to local hams, most of the communication
infrastructure was intact after the storms."
 Storm damage in Newbern, Tennessee, in Dyer County. [Dennis Weick, N4ZKR, Photo] |
 Antennas fell victim to the storm at the home of Lawrence County EC Gary Auerswald, WB9UDJ, in Illinois. |
Authorities in Dyer County, where 15 people died, say some houses were totally destroyed by the storms, and large trees across highways hampered access by emergency crews. Severe damage reports emerged from Gibson County where some 1200 houses and other structures--including the police station--were said to have been damaged. The NWS said it had received preliminary reports of more than 60 tornadoes April 2. Tennessee state police were continuing to search for additional storm victims and warning those "without legitimate business" to keep out of the affected areas and let first responders and law enforcement personnel do their jobs.
In Illinois, Lawrence County Emergency Coordinator Gary Auerswald, WB9UDJ, found himself in the middle of "a horrendous storm" while returning home with his family from Indiana.
"Trees were coming down, and people were getting blown off the road," he told ARRL Illinois Section Emergency Coordinator Pat Ryan, KC6VVT. "All electricity in the area went out." Fallen power lines prevented Auerswald from taking his usual route along Illinois Route 1. "We traveled by back roads and oil field roads and made it home," he said.
Downed trees and power lines and other property damage greeted his arrival. "A lightning burst gave me a clue to what else was missing: My antenna farm," he said. Auerswald said that until he can "piece something together," he's off the air. He was providing power to his home from a generator.
Ryan reports the Illinois ARES HF Section Net on 75 meters secured early because of high atmospheric noise levels. The ARES Net on the Starved Rock Radio Club W9MKS repeater in Lenore yielded to an ongoing weather-spotter net activated earlier by Jim Morris, N9PLM, who served as net control. "Weather Net members monitored for storm activity and, at one point, the LaSalle County EOC was activated," Ryan said. One person died in Illinois.
Other states affected by the tornadoes and high winds included Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio. Kentucky Section Emergency Coordinator Ron Dodson, KA4MAP, reported "plenty of nets up and running" the evening of April 2. Dodson says the storms decreased in severity by the time they reached his state. "Trees, power and phones lines went down," he said, "but there were no major structural incidents or injuries.
The
April 2 tornadoes came less than a month after a huge string of tornados
swept through the nation's midsection on another Sunday, killing 10 people in Missouri and Indiana and causing damage in several other states, including Illinois, Kansas and Arkansas.
| Previous: Fixing a Flat, Playing the Didgeridoo: Kids Get Answers from Space via Ham Radio | Next: ARRL "Hello" Campaign Video Now Available |
