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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 24 August 2007 |
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"We've received reports of wind damage. The most significant damage reports include the roof blown off of a children's hospital in Castries, St Lucia, two homes with roofs blown off and a banana plantation flattened in St Vincent. We've also had a few homes with steel roofs blown off in Trafallgua, Dominica, and a measured wind gust out of the East-Northeast of 68 knots at the Canefield Airport in Dominica," said Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net.
Clem James, J73CI, and Joseph Russell, J73RJ, on the island of Dominica and Julien Deider, 9Z4FZ, on the island of Trinidad have been extremely helpful in relaying reports from the affected area. They are obtaining these reports through the 75 Meter Caribbean Weather Net and through local repeater systems where operable and relaying them via EchoLink and IRLP. "We owe them a huge gratitude. They have a lot going on in their local areas yet they are relaying any information they can get to us for the benefit of the National Hurricane Center and the mission to help save lives," Macedo said.
Julio Ripoll, WD4R, Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator, manning the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida reported that the Meteorological Office in Martinique had a measured wind gust of 88 MPH before Hurricane Center forecasters lost the phone connection to the Martinique weather office. "We need any stations that have relays into Martinique by HF or any other means to get in touch with someone there and relay reports of meteorological data and damage to the Hurricane Center," Ripoll said.
Cell phone service was knocked out to portions of the western and southern parts of Dominica as reported by Joe, J73RJ. Power and phone outages were also reported in St Lucia.
Hurricane Dean will move away from the Caribbean islands and potentially affect Jamaica and other parts of the Western Caribbean Islands. The VoIP Hurricane Net and WX4NHC secured operations at Noon EDT as Dean moved away from the islands.
"We expect to reactivate WX4NHC some time Sunday Morning for Dean as it approaches Jamaica though things could change," said Ripoll. The VoIP Hurricane Net is also preparing activation plans for Sunday. -- Thanks to Rob Macedo, KD1CY
The Hurricane Watch Net has temporarily secured operations following 6 hours of net operations for Hurricane Dean on 14.325 MHz. According to Net Manager Dave Lefavour, W7GOX, the net will resume at 2200 UTC on Saturday, August 18, and remain on the air until the band closes as the storm heads closer to Jamaica. On Sunday, the net will commence at 1200 UTC.
"We provided storm information to the affected area in the Windward Islands and passed local weather conditions and initial damage reports from the area to the National Hurricane Center in Miami as Dean moved through the islands," Lefavour reported.
"We appreciate the excellent cooperation of all amateurs in remaining clear of the frequency and allowing us to communicate with those stations in the path of Dean."
As of 1500 UTC, Friday, a hurricane warning remained in affect for Martinique, Dominica and Guadeloupe, and a tropical storm warning remained in effect for the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and a number of islands in the Lesser Antilles.
A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch has also been issued for Haiti form the Haiti/Dominican Republic border to Port-Au-Prince. A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area and within 36 hours.
Hurricane Dean was located near 14.6 North, 62.6 West and it was moving toward the west at 18 knots with maximum sustained winds at 90 knots with gusts to 110 knots.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 24 August 2007 )
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