02/22/2016
Members of Ste Genevieve County ARES in Missouri pulled together a variety of
resources to pitch in when the Mississippi River threatened to crest at a
record level in late December. Ste Genevieve County Emergency Coordinator Norm
Gallup, KD0HHM, reached out to the county's emergency manager to offer the ARES
group's assistance, and the ARES team was tasked with patrolling the north
levee. Gallup was familiar with the system of levees and earthen dams that keep
the river from overflowing its banks. With only a handful of radio amateurs at
hand, AEC Jody Odem, NR9A, said the ARES team soon realized it would have to
expand its pool of volunteers to non-amateurs who would be willing to patrol
the levee. He suggested providing Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS) VHF radios to
support unlicensed levee walkers, to supplement ham radio and the Ste Genevieve
County Amateur Radio Club repeater.
The ARES team set up shop at the Ste Genevieve Public Works Department, which
overlooks the Mississippi. A county-provided, trailer-mounted crank-up tower
was pulled into service to mount antennas. Gallup's "Go Kit" was packed with a
broad complement of radio gear. To obtain Internet service, Odem used a
modified wireless router that could be used as a repeater to borrow a wireless
signal from a local residential care facility.
As the patrols got under way, MURS radios were issued to all levee walkers,
with one also going to the local police department to monitor the ARES team's
traffic. The command post also monitored local law enforcement as well as
county fire and EMS repeaters.
While all this was going on, Odem's wife Ana, N0ANA, took to Facebook, e-mail,
text message, and telephone to secure additional volunteers. Fortuitously, a
ham, Don Pritchard, W6ZPC, is the news director and an on-air personality for
the local radio station, and he was able to put out the word via that medium.
"As the operation progressed, volunteers came out of the woodwork to walk the
levee," Jody Odem said. Throughout the operation a total of 37 volunteers
walked 4-hour shifts on the levee, looking for "areas of concern," which were
called in and plotted on a map using Google Earth. Many volunteers returned to
walk multiple shifts, Jody Odem said, and with temperatures dipping into the
20s at night, no one complained.
None of the areas of concern that levee walkers spotted turned out to be of
great concern, as the Mississippi River reached its second-highest level at
Chester, Illinois, since records have been kept. The ARES team officially stood
down on January 4.
"A number of volunteers expressed interest in obtaining their Amateur Radio
licenses and becoming active in ARES," Jody Odem said. "This event turned out
to be quite a public awareness opportunity for the ARES group and Amateur Radio
as a whole. Hopefully we will increase the number of hams in the community and
add members to the ARES group."
The ARES team also obtained access to the public works building to use as a
command post for future operations and to store equipment and hold meetings. A
videographer for Ste Genevieve Community Access Television interviewed[1] ARES
members for "Flood Control Watch."
[1] http://stegentv.com/?p=4925
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