[FARC] [Fwd: [GreenKeys] The Tornado here this week... Off-Topic]

[Scott Galbraith]

Item of interest to the emcomm community that came to me from one of my 
mail lists.
  - Scott/N3OK
-------- Original Message --------
From: 	Don Robert House <drhouse at dls.net>
To: 	Greenkeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net>
Date: 	Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:48:00 -0600
Subject: 	[GreenKeys] The Tornado here this week... Off-Topic



Since most of you are Amateur Radio Operators, I am forwarding the
AARL report on our recent tornado.
However there is mention of the train blown over by the tornado here
in Harvard, Illinois before the storm
moved into Wisconsin.  Hazardous cargo in the train cars caused the
evacuation of many homes in
McHenry County.  The destruction was about a half mile wide and
thirteen miles long.

My NOAA S.A.M.E. emergency radio kept me posted during the entire
situation from beginning to end.
I was quite surprised that the two chemical plants and one
manufacturing plants in town
had no knowledge and were very happy to hear from me.  Luckily the
storm passed north
of our village.

I am recommending these radios to all of our citizens here in RIngwood.

Don House K9TTY
Trustee, Village of RIngwood, Illinois
Public Safety Chairman

Southern WISCONSIN ARES MEMBERS ACTIVATED TO ASSIST WITH TORNADO
AFTERMATH

A rare January EF3 tornado in Wisconsin destroyed houses and knocked out
power shortly after 4 PM (local time) Monday, January 7, displacing
about 160 people. The Red Cross activated members of the Kenosha County
and Racine County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) groups to
provide logistical communications at the two relief shelters in Kenosha
County, as well as from a communications station at the Kenosha County
Emergency Operation Center. Riding along with Red Cross teams, ARES
members helped relay damage assessments back to the Red Cross building
in Racine.

"Providing communications is essential," said Assistant Emergency
Coordinator for the Racine County ARES Alex Voss, N9RGX. "We set up a
communications network at the Red Cross building in Racine, outside of
the affected area. We were ready to go when activated. I couldn't be
more proud of our volunteers. We will work with the responding agencies
as long as they need us. We'll take what we've learned this time and use
it to improve our response in the future."

According to ARRL Wisconsin Section Emergency Coordinator William M.
Niemuth, KB9ENO, Wheatland, Somers and the city of Kenosha were hardest
hit by the storm. "In Wheatland, 20 homes were destroyed and at least 50
homes had some kind of damage. In Kenosha, six homes were destroyed and
almost 30 were damaged. There were a handful of homes in other parts of
the county with minor damage." An unknown number of cars were blown off
the road on Highway 50 near Highway O, said Sgt Gil Benn of the Kenosha
County Sheriff's Department.

"It was a severe storm with a lot of damage," Kenosha County Sheriff
David Beth said. "In all my time here, I have never, ever, seen any
damage to this degree. This is something I've only seen on TV that
happens in other places, but during the middle of January this is
something absolutely incredible that happened for us." Until the storms
on Monday, there has been only one tornado in January since 1844,
according to data from the National Weather Service.

Twelve people were treated at area hospitals for storm-related injuries,
but none of the injuries was major. There were no fatalities.

The tornado disrupted legal proceedings as at least 300 people evacuated
to a courthouse basement as a precaution. A Kenosha County Circuit judge
who was presiding over opening testimony in a high-profile murder trial
said he couldn't believe it when the deputy told him that he and the 50
or so people in the courtroom had to be evacuated because of a tornado
warning. He said he wasn't scared. "It's a first," he said while waiting
in the basement. "I've actually had...warnings occur during jury trials
before and frankly I just ignored them, but not in January."

Niemuth thanked the 18 ARES and RACES members who responded. "I bet this
morning that [the 18 responders] never thought they would be responding
to help their community recover from an EF3 tornado by evening! But, the
reality is emergency and disaster situations most always catch us by
surprise. That is why we train and prepare."

Sherriff Beth concurred: "It was heart-wrenching to see how most of
these people are volunteers...and they just strap on their clothes, they
leave their loved ones at home and they go running to help others.
Usually we're used to an incident that happens here in one spot, and
this happened over miles. This happened from southwestern Wisconsin all
the way over to Kenosha and everybody did their job. Everybody did what
they had to do."  -- Some information provided by Racine County
Emergency Coordinator Jim Markstrom, KB9MMA; Racine County Assistant
Emergency Coordinator Alexander Voss, N9RGX; ARRL Wisconsin Section
Emergency Coordinator William M. Niemuth, KB9ENO; David Voss, WB9USI,
and KenoshaNews.com.
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