Whitetop Mountain:
The lost hikers (Kathleen, WB4HQW and Faith King, and Donna Denham) made their way to the top of Whitetop and were in place at "Buzzard Rock" elevation 5100 feet above sea level by 9:04 am. They were scheduled to enter a cave but the north wind was blowing directly into the entrance of the cave so they opted to position themselves protected from the wind. As Ron, KB4ZC and the four other members of the search and rescue crew from the Mt Rogers unit made their way to the top of the mountain they saw a reading of 6 degrees at 9:43 am. The search team took a reading on the "dead carrier" from the "lost hikers" and make their way in a western direction from the parking area. Ron was also running APRS beacons from his HT as they made their way in the direction of the carrier. At times Ron would ask questions of the hikers and they would key short responses back. Donnie, KG4AVH was located at the shelter at the Mount Rogers Fire Department. Donnie was busy keeping in touch with the team on the mountain and tracking them with APRS and mapping software. Roy, N4YXU was also operating from the shelter and was communicating concerning the needs for the shelter. Chimer, N4KZL was located at the Wythe EOC and was tracking the searchers with APRS at his location. Many mobile APRS stations from a several state area were able to keep track of the search progress. People around the world were able to track the progress via the Internet. At 11:24 am the searchers found their "lost hikers" and were able to provide medical attention and move them to the shelter.
To view an After Action Report from our "Lost Hikers", click here
Skywarn Advisories and Activation:
On Friday night December 8th, NWS staff began to issue advisories of the approaching storm at 9:00 pm. Amateur Radio Skywarn spotters tuned to each of 10 Skywarn repeaters and took note of the impending storm. Throughout the night Hams were making preparations to support their local communities in the event of communications failure and overload of available resources.
Daybreak would reveal the simulated disruption of the giant storm system. At 8:00 am the National Weather Service in Blacksburg placed staff and volunteer hams to work collecting data for areas across the 40 counties cover by the Blacksburg WFO. The reports begin to flow in over the Roanoke repeater 146.745 and later on 146.985. Reports were carried by liaisons stations that monitored other repeaters and brought the reports to the primary repeater. These included things such as snow depth, ice buildup, road closings, power and phone outages. Search and rescue teams from Whitetop Mountain were requesting weather information as they were experiencing 6 degree temperature with winds increasing and the temperature dropping. They needed weather forecast information to determine how much time they might have to complete their search. Throughout the exercise hams continued to funnel information into the NWS.
Agencies Swing into Action:
Twin County Emergency Management activates it's emergency plan and establishes a triage area at the Carroll County Search and Rescue. Red Cross is contacted and shelters are established at Duspur, Laurel Fork, the Search and Rescue building, Carroll EMS. Surrey County NC actives shelters and their EOC. Ashe County, NC also opens shelters to provide for its many residents without heat. Montgomery County opened shelters at Virginia Tech and the Blacksburg Middle School. From these shelters within the first hours of the storm 105 health and welfare messages are sent from the disaster area to the Richmond area to be handled by the National Traffic System by ham radio operators. Tactical messages are being sent all across the region effected by the storm. There are 4 hospitals that are looking for support as their ER is full and all available beds have been taken. Franklin County, Montgomery/Floyd County, Roanoke County, Grayson, Carroll, and Wythe County Red Cross are hard at work establishing and supporting shelters. The Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Red Cross has been activated and has contacted the Nation ARC for assistance. The Richmond Red Cross has located over 5000 cots and other supplies and are shipping these to the impacted area.
Ice has paralyzed the area east of the Blue Ridge due to heavy ice that covers utility lines and highways and walks. Amateur Radio Emergency Service in Franklin, Henry, Patrick, Roanoke, Bedford, Allegheny, Bath, Botetourt, Pittsylvania, Wythe, Carroll, Grayson, Tazewell and Craig Counties move to needed areas to provide needed communications. Many ARES units across the Virginia Section have rallied to support the recovery effort by locating needed supplies and personnel and passing health and welfare messages. Shelters, hospital and Emergency Operation Centers are tied together by Amateur Radio due to the failure of phone and Internet services. Within a 4 hour period hundreds of messages are passed across jurisdictional and agency lines in a seamless fashion. Leadership within in the impact area are looking for things like "meals ready to eat", snowmobiles, cross county skies, snow shoes, 4 wheel drive vehicles with ham radio operators onboard, shovels, tractors and trucks with snow blades, medical supplies, and skilled relief workers including Amateur Radio operators.
More information will be added to the page as reports flow in.
