“Because most of the communication lines had been damaged in the storm, we were provided communication support to the local authorities,” ARRL Iowa Section Official Emergency Station and Des Moines SKYWARN Coordinator Tom Reis, N0VPR, told the ARRL. “The efforts of the Creston hams once again proved the value of Amateur Radio in critical situations.” Hams also were able to provide assistance in passing information back to the National Weather Service that they could not receive through their conventional methods. “The information provided about Creston was very valuable,” said NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist Jeff Johnson. “Thank you very much for your service”
The day following the storm, officials discovered that the local school district lost the 80 foot tower that is used for the school bus repeater. The Creston Amateur Radio Club offered up their antenna, coax and tower space to the school. On May 17, hams installed the school’s repeater at the club’s site and moved the Creston repeater to a temporary site. Creston is located in the Southwestern Iowa.
Posting from ARRL.ORG website
04/19/2012
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| Close up of the tornado path through northwest Creston on April 14. The light blue contour denotes EF0 damage, green denotes EF1 damage and yellow represents EF2 damage. This tornado formed about one and a half miles east of Cromwell at 6:55pm and quickly tracked into northwest Creston around 7 PM. EF2 damage occurred to the Greater Regional Medical Center and the Southwestern Community College campus. Surrounding apartments and homes also sustained severe damage and many cars were flipped or destroyed. The tornado continued tracking to the northeast and damaged several farmsteads northeast of Creston before dissipating about 10 miles northeast of town at approximately 7:15 PM. [Photo courtesy of the National Weather Service in Des Moines, Iowa] |
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