Hello to all..
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Stand-by status is now secured at 8 AM ET Monday March 22nd, 2010. Over the past 3 days, ARES was active supporting the Red Cross with communications support for damage assessment on Friday March 19th and North Shore ARES was active supporting the distribution of Red Cross clean-up kits working with Peabody Emergency Management during the daytime hours of Saturday and Sunday. A brief synopsis of each activation follows below:
Red Cross requested ARES support for damage assessment on Friday March 19th for the entire day. Six Amateur Operators deployed to the Red Cross field office in Haverhill for supporting this activity. The Ham Radio piece of the operation was small but did help support the damage assessment work and allowed for a good exercise in supporting such an operation in the future. In the past several years, many of the players for Red Cross had changed and this was an opportunity to meet many of these new people and to establish relationships. The activation was successful and Red Cross viewed the operation and the work done by Hams as an asset for future incidents.
North Shore ARES was active supporting Peabody Emergency Management with the distribution of clean-up kits to citizens in and around Peabody. Much of the communications occurred on simplex and was to help coordinate the distribution of the kits. The operation lasted from 9 AM-6 PM Saturday March 20th and 10 AM-3 PM Sunday March 21st. Approximately 12 Amateurs took place in this operation supporting Red Cross and Peabody Emergency Management. Further details on these activations will be posted next week or in early April.
At the time of writing this status message, additional rainfall of 1-3″ with isolated higher amounts and the potential for renewed flooding threatens the Eastern Massachusetts section as we get into Tuesday Morning and Afternoon. A Flood Watch is in effect for the entire Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section except for Cape Cod and the Islands. The watch extends into Worcester County of the Western Massachusetts section, Rhode Island and Southern New Hampshire. The rainfall will not be as significant as what we just had so flooding should not be as significant, however, it will not take as much rainfall to cause flooding over the region. At this time, the current thinking is that any flooding that takes place will fall below ARES activation thresholds but this will be monitored closely and those Hams involved in ARES and SKYWARN are asked to keep a close eye on rivers and streams as the potential for renewed flooding and report in observations that meet the SKYWARN reporting thresholds. Below is information on the rivers that remain in minor flooding as well as the Flood Watch Statement as posted by NWS Taunton:
NWS Taunton Flood Watch Statement:
http://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.wgus61.KBOX.html
NWS Taunton Flood Statement:
http://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.wgus81.KBOX.html
NWS Taunton Hazardous Weather Outlook:
http://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.flus41.KBOX.html
Thanks to all for their continued support for Eastern Massachusetts ARES!
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org