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Tropical Storm Ana - October 19, 2014+

Amateur radio operators throughout Hawaii responds to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ana that arrives in Hawaiian waters on Saturday October 18, 2014. This page provides progress information on the event. It is updated infrequently, so check the latest advisories from the National Weather Services and Emergency Management agencies. Last update is Thu Oct 16, 3:35 am

Activities are chronicled here. It's not a question of "If", it's a question of "When".

Enjoy, and feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have any questions.


Overview

Early storm track forecasts had the track approaching close to the southern shores of the Hawaiian islands.

JTWC TS 02 2014 Forecast 4

JTWC TS 02 2014 Forecast 5

The storm passed to the south and west of the Hawaiian Islands. High surf, rains and flooding were the result.

JTWC TS 02 2014 Forecast 11

JTWC TS 02 2014 Forecast 23

JTWC TS 02 2014 Forecast 25

The Wastewater treatment plant at Sand Island discharged 5,000 gallons of untreated sewage into Honolulu Harbor due to the spike in runoff water on Oct 19. The plant's electrical systems were damaged and rendered four clarifiers offline. The plant was restored to operation on Oct 27. Press release.

Hurricane Ana diminished to a Tropical Storm and headed west, then north. It reintensified as a Category One hurricane, diminished, then headed to the Pacific Northwest causing storms in that region.

JTWC TS 02 2014 Forecast 40

Tropical Storm Ana information

Information on Tropical Storm Ana and personal preparations can be found at these links:

Amateur Radio

The amateur radio leadership of NWS SKYWARN and Hawaii (State) Emergency Management Agency RACES and DEM (Department of Emergency Management) RACES coordinated a joint net on the state-wide VHF Repeater system for passing storm information to the National Weather Service Honolulu Forecast office at HIG Building, University of Hawaii at Manoa campus, with supplemental traffic for SCD and DEM. The repeaters of DEM RACES (Oahu County) and SCD were linked using ALL-STAR VOIP linking to create a eight node repeater cluster of both State-wide and around-the-island repeaters for Oahu for reporting and monitoring purposes.

The repeaters linked from State Civil Defense

  • 147.02+ PL 103.5, Mt Haleakala, Maui 9,769 ft
  • 147.04+ no PL, Mauna Loa, Big Island 8,200 ft
  • 147.04+ PL 103.5, Lihue, Kauai
  • 147.06+ PL 103.5, Diamond Head, Oahu
  • 444.325+ PL 103.5, Waimanalo, Oahu
  • 444.350+ PL 103.5, Diamond Head, Oahu

and Department of Emergency Management, Oahu County

  • 146.76- no PL, Mokuleia, Oahu
  • 146.98- PL 88.5, Frank Fasi Municipal Building, Oahu

Big island operations scheduled for:

  • 146.82-, BIWARN Mauna Loa
  • 146.76-, BIWARN Kulani Cone is currently stand-alone
  • 146.86- PL 100.0, Naalehu
  • 146.72-, HSVOAD Mauna Kea

HF operations were scheduled for:

  • 3888 kHz LSB, Hawaii County
  • 3993.5 kHz LSB, State Civil Defense RACES
  • 7080 kHz USB, SKYWARN (Monitor this frequency first)
  • 7088 kHz LSB, HI EMA/State Civil Defense RACES
  • 7095 kHz LSB, Hawaii County
  • 7178 kHz LSB, HI EMA/State Civil Defense RACES alternate
  • 7195 kHZ LSB, Hawaii County
  • TBD, DEM RACES
  • TBD, American Red Cross
  • TBD, Healthcomm

NWS SKYWARN

SKWARN operation started at 6:00 pm Friday October 17. Operations were scheduled to end at 7:00 pm Saturday October 18. Operations ended at 10:00 pm on Saturday October 18.

Hawaii State Emergency Management Agency

HI EMA/State CD amateur radio operations monitored the NWS SKYWARN net remotely from work and home ready to provide additional assistance and relays of messages from SKYWARN to the SCD EOC. Operations transferred to the HI EMA EOC in Diamond Head Friday night, 10:00 pm. Operations were scheduled to end at 7:00 pm Saturday October 18.

  • Larry AH6SP monitored VHF net for HI EMA traffic remotely offsite, 10/17/14 6pm-10pm.
  • Danny NH7ZT monitored VHF net for HI EMA traffic at HI EMA EOC RACES station, 10/17/14 - 10/18/14 8am.
  • Peter KH6JBS monitored VHF and HF nets for SCD traffic at HI EMA EOC RACES station, 10/18/14 8am-3pm. Relayed three digital messages (fldigi) from Hilo, HI and Big Island stations to for NWS SKYWARN containing weather information.
  • Larry AH6SP monitored VHF net for HI EMA traffic remotely offsite 10/17/14 3pm-7pm. Operations ended at 7 pm.

Hawaii County

CERT operations will start at TBD. Operations expected on the BIWARN repeater system. The BIWARN link into Hilo is inoperative.

HSVOAD Mauna Kea Repeater 146.72 MHz is anticipated to be turned on for Big Island traffic. Primary use is by HSVOAD and its member agencies including the local chapters of HSVOAD. Additionally, HCCDA has been granted secondary use on the 147.62 MHz repeater.

Maui County

Oahu County

DEM RACES is not scheduling an activation as of Thursday night.

Plan is to follow SkyWarn protocol where they have precedence over the linked network. However, DEM RACES will break in if an urgent DEM message needs to be passed in the absence of commercially available communications. That is not expected for this event.

American Red Cross to open five shelters on Saturday afternoon starting at 4 pm.

  • Farrington High School, Honolulu
  • Leilehua High School, Wahiawa
  • Nanakuli High School, Waianae
  • Waimanalo Elementary School, Waimanalo

Information from City and County of Honolulu.

Kauai County

Healthcomm

Healthcomm is TBD. Healthcomm to be operational post-landfall.

Reminder

A reminder: Being prepared is a personal responsibility. Stock up ahead of time, and don't get caught in the mad rush to the store to buy stuff. The Star-Advertiser offers a list of items for preparedness and planning.

A reminder for the general population (and amateur radio operators alike) that the primary means of timely notification of an alert is via the NOAA National Weather Service Weather Alert radios.

The Star-Advertiser Reporting

October 14, 2014, updated October 16, 2014

These are links to articles from The Star-Advertiser.

Find out more by contacting:  rhashiro(remove this part)@hawaiiantel.net
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October 14, 2014. Updated: November 27, 2014

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