ARES Teams in Northeast Brace for More Rain:

Some two dozen Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers responded this week in southwestern New Hampshire, where flooding ravaged communities in the vicinity of Alstead and Keene and claimed at least three lives. ARRL New Hampshire Section Emergency Coordinator Dave Colter, WA1ZCN, said ARES volunteers provided communication support for the American Red Cross and the state Bureau of Emergency Management as well as for the City of Keene.

"We were able to get communication into places where the state does not have communications and probably still does not have," he said Wednesday evening. In anticipating additional deployment, Colter said, ARES teams planned to position themselves in advance in areas that might become isolated by further flooding. They stood down at week's end.

Heavy rainfall in the Northeast over the past week has swollen rivers and streams in several states, and the resulting flooding badly damaged homes and highways, while fallen trees took out electrical power in some places. In all, at least 10 people have died throughout the region.

Northern New Jersey SEC Steve Ostrove, K2SO, reports Passaic County ARES/RACES was on full alert assisting the Office of Emergency Management in the wake of severe flooding as the Passaic River overflowed its banks. Flooding also has been reported in Bergen and Essex counties. Some New Jersey. residents have been urged to evacuate. Northern New Jersey got up to six inches of rain in two days on top of a similar deluge the previous weekend.

Power was reported out in part of Connecticut as a result of the heavy rain, and the University of Bridgeport was forced to cancel its classes on October 13.

In Western Massachusetts, Section Manager Bill Voedisch, W1UD, reports the Franklin County emergency operations center activated after flooding along the Green River resulted in damage to residences in Greenfield. "Everyone expects more rain from Worcester County to the New York state line," Voedisch told ARRL Headquarters October 13. "I don't know how much will fall, but the weather report says as much as five inches. The ground is saturated."

Source:

The ARRL Letter Vol. 24, No. 40 October 14, 2005

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