[Ares-races] MISSISSIPPI ARES TEAMS RESPOND IN TORNADO-STRICKEN COMMUNITY

[BillLennox@aol.com]

From:  <A HREF="www.arrl.org">www.arrl.org</A>

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The ARRL Letter
Vol. 21, No. 49
December 20, 2002
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==>MISSISSIPPI ARES TEAMS RESPOND IN TORNADO-STRICKEN COMMUNITY

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) teams from Jackson and Meridian,
Mississippi, have converged on the tiny community of Newton to provide
emergency communication support following a devastating tornado December
19. ARRL Mississippi Section Manager Malcolm Keown, W5XX, said about a
dozen amateurs from the Metro Jackson ARES and the Lauderdale County ARES
groups were taking turns supporting relief agencies in Newton, which has
no ARES organization of its own.

The mid-day twister struck a Wal-Mart filled with holiday shoppers,
blowing out the front windows and collapsing part of the roof. The tornado
also damaged a furniture factory. Newton is located roughly halfway
between Jackson and Meridian in the Interstate 20 corridor. According to
news accounts, some 70 people were hurt, but no one was killed. Property
damage in the town was said to have been widespread, and Gov Ronnie
Musgrove has declared a state of emergency in Newton.

Keown said the ARES teams were helping the Red Cross with damage
assessment and with shelter communication. In the tornado's immediate
aftermath, telephone service and electrical power were out in much of the
town of nearly 4000 and in surrounding Newton County, he said. The hams
also have been assisting The Salvation Army and the Southern Baptist Men's
Kitchen canteen operations as well as making themselves available to local
emergency management officials.

Although some reports indicated the tornado hit without warning, Keown
said SKYWARN teams had activated all along the I-20 corridor in
anticipation of the severe weather, and the National Weather Service had
issued tornado warnings.

"We were up all day long," he said of the SKYWARN activity. "The first
damage estimates to the National Weather Service came from ham radio
SKYWARN reports."



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