[LeArc] ARLB026 West Virginia Amateurs help state deal with flooding

[Joseph L. Rossmiller]

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB026
ARLB026 West Virginia Amateurs help state deal with flooding

ZCZC AG26
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 26  ARLB026
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  May 9, 2002
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB026
ARLB026 West Virginia Amateurs help state deal with flooding

Amateurs in West Virginia continue to assist in the wake of recent
flooding. The state has recorded nine deaths since severe thunderstorms
May 2 dumped more than five inches of rain over the southern West
Virginia coalfields within a few hours.

ARRL West Virginia Section Emergency Coordinator Mac McMillian, W8XF,
says several roads in the hardest-hit region in and around Welch and
Webster counties remain closed due to flood damage, and ''uncounted''
families have been forced from their homes. Schools in McDowell County
remain closed. Gov Bob Wise has declared a state of emergency in several
counties.

''Amateur Radio involvement has been done locally on battery-powered
repeaters in the affected areas.'' McMillian said this week. Amateurs
from the Charleston area volunteered to assist in Welch County.
McMillian said amateurs were able to handle a request from the state
Emergency Operations Center to provide back-up communication from Welch
to the state EOC in Charleston when a coal mine impound dam threatened
to burst. The impound was pumped down to safe levels before that could
happen, however.

Raleigh County Emergency Coordinator Tim Zutaut, KC8PMI, said this week
that Raleigh County ARES/RACES was monitoring the Welch 145.45 MHz
repeater. A McDowell County ARES group has been using the repeater to
assist with communications into and out of the county, he said. ''Our
group is set up at the Red Cross to assist them with any traffic and
needs they may have,'' he told McMillian.'' From the reports I have
received, the damage there [McDowell County] is very extensive.''

McMillian said the McDowell County 911 center was flooded, and more than
two-thirds of the telephones in the affected area were not functional in
the immediate aftermath of the flooding. Some cellular telephone sites
have remained operational, however.

In Virginia, flooding in Buchanan County affected more than 2500
residents and caused damage estimated at $30 million. Two people drowned
in the community of Hurley. Flooding also affected Pike County,
Kentucky, and one person drowned in that state.

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