SPARCS Ham Radio Emergency Communication

Photo Comparison of Bolivar Peninsula Before & After Ike

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ALSO… KK5CA REPORTS FROM HIS HOME IN HOUSTON TEXAS…

“God was good to us and spared our house from damage. A few pine trees and the wooden fences did not fare so well.

I was out of state before and during the storm on a long planned trip. My wife KC5BXR did a great job of preparing the house before she had to report to the command center at Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center for the storm’s duration. After 5 consecutive days at the hospital, sleeping a few hours at a time on an air mattress in her office, she was released late Monday afternoon.  Among the Memorial Hermann hospital systems, the TMC was the only one which did not lose power during the storm. Some of you may remember it was flooded during TS Allison in 2001.

I returned home about 2 PM Monday afternoon. As of Wednesday morning, 5 days after it went out, we remain without electric power and internet connectivity. The generator keeps the now empty refrigerator cool and the water flowing, as long as gasoline is available. I know the warm water remaining in the water heater will eventually run out, and it’s cold showers after that.

We have not been running the generator long enough to recharge the deep cycle batteries, so the home station is only operating when the generator is running. I hope to stretch our gas supply long enough to avoid sitting in the hours-long lines to purchase from the few open stations. The battery backup on my Davis weather station eventual expired, and lost my hoped-for records of maximum wind speeds.

In our small sub-division of 400 residences, at least 390 are without commercial
electric power. A few streets remain blocked by large downed trees. A few
houses have trees through them. ALL have tree damage and yards full of green
debris. The most common sounds are generators and chain saws.

My employer  had my building flood, again. The last time was TS Allison in 2001. This time, the drain for a small atrium in the center of the building became blocked, allowing the atrium to will with rain water. At one time, my office had the only door into that atrium, and that was how the water entered the building this time. I long ago vacated that office. Most of the offices are unusable due to water damage, and the sheet rock is cut
out 2-feet up each wall. Our manufacturing and warehouse areas were unaffected;
only the administrative areas. We are shuffling the employees that are able to
make it to work into conference rooms.

Cell phone service, even text messaging, is difficult in most Verizon and AT&T service areas. POTS continues to work in most areas, providing you have a non-AC powered phone.

Most large grocery stores that are open do not have bread or dairy products.

In Harris County alone, more than 2 million residents and businesses are without commercial power. One restoration model from Centerpoint Energy (the largest provider) says 50-75% of them will have power restored by next Tuesday, September 23. Upwards of 10,000 skilled electric power specialists are working 24 hours a day. The project is massive. Other counties are similarly affected.

My church held only one service Sunday morning; no bible study classes; and will conduct a shortened Wednesday night service using generator power”.

Jerry
KK5CA