CEWN Caribbean Emergency and Weather Net

 

CEWN REPORT ON PASSAGE OF HURRICANE EMILY

The formation of Tropical Depression # 5 in the mid Atlantic a little over a week ago, commanded the attention of all persons involved with Emergency Management in the Eastern Caribbean and further afield. Therefore persons involved in the amateur radio service knew that their services would be required, the memory of Ivan still fresh in our mind.

This time, the CEWN rose to the occasion and 'rallied its forces' and were prepared to take on the worst. The simple plan was that if the storm impacted the Leewards, those in the Windwards would provide Net control duties to organize the flow traffic in and out of the affected areas and vice versa.

Emily made landfall first in Barbados on July 13, with the Northern quadrant of the storm grazing the Southern tip of that country. Most of the normally active 8P's remained on air, and who gave periodic sit reps and official WX reports. At this point it was evident that the storm would be taking a similar path to that of Ivan and it did. Luckily for all territories that were impacted, the storm never intensified , as did Ivan, and the damage, though significant in Carriacou, Canouan, Union Island, Grenada and Tobago, was not severe. The loss of human life was minimal, which according to unconfirmed reports left one man dead in Grenada.

The CEWN moved methodically to organize the 'coverage' of this event. On July 10 at 10:00 pm the net convened a meeting where participation was solicited and the simple plan made 'public'. The following day the network went into "heightened alert" status and by midday on the July 12, went into "full alert" status. Before I proceed further with this report I must commend Rosemond Clery using the call J79BB for being the driving force and the most outstanding net control operator during the 72 hour period leading up to and during the passage of Emily. The network's emergency coordinator Tony Webster 8P6NE for his useful advice and input and for the host of persons who took up net control duties at some stage or another. Even some seasoned hams who may not necessarily check in regularly, but who monitor at all times, were there in the wee hours of the morning taking on net control duties as well as relaying messages when the control station had difficulties hearing. I have made note of all these 'unfamiliar ' callsigns and would like to thank you for your help when it was really needed.

As net manager, I did not assume control during the passage of the storm, as those operators who were in control, were really 'in control', so I did not interfere with a good thing, but was always there to recognize the weak signals and to ensure that their traffic was heard.

On this occasion there was NO shortage of information from Grenadian hams. J39JQ, J39JT, J39HA, J39AH, J39JZ, J39CP, J39DE, J39JX, J39GP, J39BW and even J37LD, probably using a sheet of galvanize as an antenna made us aware of what was happening in the spice isle (If I missed any J3 call you were probably on when I was on the road). Trinidad gave fairly good representation while there was a 'blackout' of information from Tobago, this anomaly with the latter, must be rectified if possible before the next storm approaches the region. At 02:10 hrs on July 14, during the passage of Emily, the NEMO coordinator from SVG using the callsign J8EOC ( not a ham but under the prevailing circumstances permissible in our jurisdiction) checked in giving a sit rep of known conditions in St.Vincent while soliciting information from operators in Grenada and Trinidad. All radio operators on frequency during the passage of Emily must be commended for their support and exemplary conduct.

The support from hams in St.Vincent & the Grenadines, Barbados, St. Lucia and Dominica was as anticipated and I would like to say a sincere thank you for your voluntary services. The hams from the Leewards were always there and we thank you for 'being there'.

We are not out of the woods as yet as it is still early in the season and we must use this experience to fine tune our skills.

The lesson learnt, whenever we cooperate, great things can happen.

Thanks again guys !

Donald De Riggs

Net Manager CEWN 2005.

Direct replies and comments to cewn2005@yahoo.com

 

last updated July27, 2005 by J79DL with input from J79BB/J69BB and J88CD--- webmaster contact J79DL@COMCAST.NET