Tar River ARC Hurricane Floyd story

Tar River Amateur Radio Club

The 1999 hurricane season brought unprecedented flooding to Eastern North Carolina just south of the Virginia line and east of I-95 along the Tar and Neuse Rivers including Rocky Mount, Greenville, Wilson, Washington and many other smaller towns in this area. This account is written by two hams in the town of Tarboro, Steve Plumblee, WA4FJK, and his son Chris, KG4CZU. Tarboro, a town of 11,900, is midway between Rocky Mount and Greenville in Edgecombe County and was one of the areas hardest hit by the flooding that followed Hurricane Floyd. Amateur Radio worked alongside the Coast Guard, Air Force, National Guard and local officials in the rescue efforts that followed.

"As Hurricane Floyd approached Edgecombe County, NC, the authors lay awake in their Tarboro home and listened to the wind, the rain, and the 147.12, WN4Z, repeater in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Earlier Wednesday evening, the TV weather forecasters had predicted how the storm should behave, but now the TV was not available and commercial radio gave only occasional help in determining where the storm might be. We were concerned when A. B. Gentry, WN4Z, the Emergency Coordinator for Edgecombe County, was heard to be stranded atop his pickup in rising flood waters in Rocky Mount, but it seemed at the time to be an isolated incident. A few trees crashed down around the house somewhere in the darkness. At dawn, the storm was still approaching, but at least we could see. The eye of Hurricane Floyd passed 30-40 miles east of Tarboro shortly after sunrise on Thursday, September 16. The winds were not nearly as fierce as most had feared. There were a number of trees downed, but structural damage from the wind was minimal. The sun shone brightly in the afternoon and it seemed that we had escaped any significant problems. Commercial power came back on in most of Tarboro, the county seat, before dark on Thursday, and we breathed a sigh of relief. WN4Z had been in contact with emergency officials in the county in previous months to offer Amateur Radio's help during the hurricane season, and had spoken to them again when it became obvious that Floyd was threatening the state. Their opinion was that their radio systems and cell phones would be adequate. As late as Thursday evening, it seemed they were right. What most people didn't realize was that the almost 20 inches of rain produced by Floyd were still gathering in the Tar River and the normally small, but now rapidly growing, streams feeding it. Hurricane Dennis had dropped almost a foot of rain in this same area some two weeks previous, and the ground was completely saturated. There was nowhere for the water to go except down the rivers and into the flood plain. In the pre dawn darkness of Friday morning, the water level grew rapidly. Princeville, a town of 1,652 citizens separated from Tarboro only by the Tar River, was protected by a dike built in the early 60's to a height of 43 feet above sea level, one foot greater than the worst flood in Edgecombe County's history. Unfortunately, the Tar River would eventually crest at an estimated 27 feet (estimated because the measuring gauge was completely submerged) above flood stage, or 46 feet above sea level. Princeville residents were awakened in the darkness early Friday morning to be told that dike would not hold and that they had only minutes to get out. Many would be rescued by boat and helicopter. Friday morning dawned bright and clear. Widespread power outages had returned during the night. The extent of the flooding was not widely known because local news services were not available. Thursday night the WN4Z 2-meter repeater in Rocky Mount, the most effective repeater for covering Edgecombe County, had gone down because commercial AC was out and there was no generator backup. The 444.45 mHz. repeater in downtown Tarboro was also out because the building housing the repeater was flooded with about four feet of water. All through the day, Friday, the EOC in Rocky Mount in adjacent Nash County operated off the W4DCG 2-meter repeater in Louisburg. All airspace over Edgecombe County was closed beginning Friday as the US Coast Guard rescued residents by helicopter. Some had to be cut out through their roof when they were trapped in the attic by rapidly rising flood waters. Tarboro High School was opened soon to become the largest emergency shelter in the county, housing 3,000 persons at its peak. At times there were as many as a dozen helicopters flying rescue missions, often with several stacked up waiting to land on the football field and deliver rescued residents of Princeville, east Tarboro and surrounding areas. A military C-130 aircraft circled high overhead providing air-traffic control. Steve Unrein, KE4EGK, the Assistant EC for Edgecombe County, went to the EOC to offer help with any communication needs. He discovered both the Tarboro Police and Edgecombe County Sheriff's radio systems out of service. Both systems use a repeater site that was then under water and out of commission. The Sheriff's Department uses a 155 mHz. system and still had simplex communication, at least. The Police Department uses a 800 mHz. trunked system that was completely ineffective without the repeater. At Steve's suggestion, one of the Carolina Power & Light Co. boom trucks was borrowed to be a temporary tower for the 155 mHz. system. When it was discovered that the coverage was still spotty around the county with this makeshift repeater, the emergency officials asked Steve to get some hams with mobile units to ride around with the police to provide more reliable communication, but it didn't prove to be practical to set this up on such short notice. Late in the afternoon, Steve called Bruce Batchelor, N4XUN, Steve Plumblee, WA4FJK, and Chris Plumblee, KG4CZU, for help. A station was set up at the EOC using a mobile rig and a quarter wave magnetic mount antenna on a windowsill. These volunteers manned the stations at Tarboro High and Martin Middle School the first night. Thankfully, the 147.12 mHz. Rocky Mount repeater was back up. On Saturday, Ed Connor, KD4EAC, provided a 5/8-wave ground plane antenna that was mounted on an extension ladder and 10 foot mast outside the lobby of the Sheriff's Department. With the improved antenna, reliable communications was established to the shelters in Tarboro, but not to all the shelters in the county. There were four "primary" shelters: Tarboro High and Martin Middle School in Tarboro, and North and Southwest Edgecombe High School further out in the county, along with several smaller shelters. As the rescues continued for several days, as many as 6,500 county residents would be be housed in these shelters. Many telephone lines were still working, especially those in Tarboro. But, farther out in the county, a large percentage of the lines were out of service because of the flood waters. But, even when the phones were working, the volume of traffic caused problems. For example, Tarboro High had 8 telephone lines, but with 3,000 flood victims there, it might take two hours for the EOC to contact them with a message. Cellular phones were useless much of the time because of the volume of calls. Communication by Ham Radio, however, was instantaneous, so long as we had operators in place. Travel around the county was a significant challenge, as it seemed that every road passing over, or alongside, a stream or river was under water. At the height of the floodwaters, it is estimated that 40% of the county was under water. Shelters at Southwest and North Edgecombe High School could not be reached from Tarboro, except by air. The Coast Guard was delivering people and all supplies to these shelters by helicopter. The need for communications to these shelters was mentioned many times on the repeater Saturday, and some local hams were up to the challenge. Rocky, KC4JPY, and Marvin, KD4NLX, took off from northern Nash County and traveled the back roads to reach North Edgecombe High School early Saturday evening. Fred Dunstan, K4FMD, and Rod Bridgers, N4BNO, came in from the west and was able to reach Southwest Edgecombe HS about the same time. The Ham operators at the EOC, Jim Lewis, N4PE, and Bobby Griffin, NF4C, worked hard all night as a backlog of requests were passed over the ham bands that could not be carried by any other means. On Sunday morning, Amateur operations in adjacent Nash County were terminated and the EC for the county, Fred Winner, KE4LXW, was able to join us by car with little or no trouble. He brought valuable experience and some additional radio equipment. We were told of an isolated shelter in Conetoe, NC, that had no communications whatever. The Coast Guard said they could fly an operator into the shelter, if one were available. Robin Keller, WA4WPD, arrived from northern Nash County right after Fred, and he was ready for an adventure. He was equipped with a deep cycle marine battery, a mobile rig, and a beam antenna in addition to all his snacks and the all important toilet paper. He packed all his stuff into a bag and was prepared to fly out at a minute's notice. Early in the morning, Rocky and Marvin had had to leave, so the North Edgecombe station was unmanned. Fortunately, we had several people come in from out of the county who were available to help. One of these was Bill, KB1G. Bill went straight to Tarboro High School and set up his crossband repeater to stay for several days. He lived just like a shelter resident, as did all our people that stayed overnight, and did an excellent job. All through the day, Robin had been waiting around for the helicopter to take him to Conetoe. Finally, around 10:00 PM, the National Guard informed us that all flights were canceled. As we understood it, not only were they relying on a ham operator to establish communication, but also to set up a generator there. Steve Unrein had gone with Robin to Tarboro High School to wait for the helicopter that we had been assured would arrive soon, and at about 11:00, he had had enough. He was able to get himself and his son, Patrick, on the next supply flight to Conetoe as a generator technician. He also took along the radio, battery, and antenna, and served as our operator through the night. We used almost exclusively VHF radio, with no HF and very little UHF equipment. A.B. Gentry, along with his wife, had been rescued from his flooded pickup on early Thursday morning and had been staying in one of the emergency shelters. His house had been flooded up to the windows, but he was able to make it to the EOC early the next week to bring some Motorola VHF and UHF radios. We used them as well as a Ringo Ranger type dual band antenna to expand our frequency coverage.

Operations continued in Edgecombe County for a total of 10 days. After some initial skepticism on the part of county officials, they didn't want to see us go. The most important information we passed seemed to be requests for prescription drugs from the shelters. We also provided head counts each evening to arrange for the next day's food supplies. After a few days, we found that monitoring road conditions around the county was an important service Amateur Radio is well able to provide. More advance preparation and practice with the EOC would have been very valuable, and not only where radio equipment is concerned. There were many, many workers at the EOC, and once we found out exactly who to communicate with, the job was much easier. Having a reliable means of communication with the EOC seemed to reassure the shelter managers. And, if EOC officials had an urgent message or question for one of the shelters, they brought it to us. The Amateur Radio operators willing to donate their time made this possible. There were a total of 48 hams from all over North Carolina who provided 24 hour coverage during this 10 day period. Hopefully, the lessons learned in this operation will make us better able to handle emergency situations in the future. If the long-range weather forecasters are correct, we are in for more hurricane seasons like this one in coming years, but everyone in Eastern North Carolina is willing to wait a long time for another visitor like Floyd."