Hurricane Matthew Preparation and Response Oct 2016

[Eclipse]

http://www.capnhq.gov/news/Documents/Hurricane_Matthew_NR_1.pdf

"MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. – Members of the Florida Wing and their counterparts in
other Civil Air Patrol wings along the Atlantic Coast are busy preparing for the impact and
potential aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, a Category 3 storm expected to make landfall in the
Bahamas on Thursday and skirt the Florida coastline on Friday. "





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8huapsaouU

Personally, I'm looking forward to a Friday morning filled with reporters doing dumb things all up and down the
Eastern Seaboard...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO2Oqymv6fw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewRLlAN4ofc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_12WDZXeys

Interesting hurricane study:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rw1vJBnINg

[NIN]

Five-ish years back,  the Susquehanna River flooded in the Scranton Wilkes-Barre area and my buddy and his family moved every thing important to the 2nd floor and evacuated to family in NJ.

After a couple of days wondering if they still had a house or not, he was watching The Weather Channel and Jim Cantore was on a boat floating down the middle of a street broadcasting live in that area.

Cameraman pans to the left and there's my buddy's house: the water line is midway up the front windows.

Who knew you could count on the Weather Channel and Jim Cantore for real time damage assessment?



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[Eclipse]

Cameraman pans to the left and there's my buddy's house: the water line is midway up the front windows.

(embedding disabled on the below)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNJrEBXcMUc

[NIN]

Heh, same broadcast, just not in this particular clip.  His house is probably a minute or two further on.

[Eclipse]

They are starting to line up out there like a String of pearls...



http://www.nbc-2.com/story/33313425/tropical-storm-nicole-develops-in-the-western-atlantic

"Nicole is not expected to impact any landmass. In fact, Hurricane Matthew will prevent Nicole from
pushing toward the United States, Bermuda or the Bahamas.

It is unlikely Nicole will become a hurricane at this time."

However one model this AM on the Today Show has Matthew doing a loop on itself back to the
SouthWest being held in by Nicole.

Attractions and theme parks, including Kennedy, starting to announce closures, including the Orlando Eye,
which I've never heard of, but would probably be either the most amazing or most terrifying place to be in a hurricane.

[Eclipse]

I received this today presumably off te UAV registration database (my son has a quadrotor):



Site referenced: https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/PilotWeb/

[seacamper]

Hey All,
I am trying to find a regulation or source that requires each squadron member to participate in a daily "call down" during a hurricane. Our state is under a hurricane watch, and the squadron is requiring we check in every day, or else the squadron commander will have to come to our house and check on us. Where is that written? I guess its not a bad idea, but I can't find it.

[THRAWN]

Sounds like a VOCO situation. Verbal order of the commanding officer.

[THRAWN]

I received this today presumably off te UAV registration database (my son has a quadrotor):



Site referenced: https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/PilotWeb/

You beat me to it.

[Luis R. Ramos]

It is not written... But it does not have to be.

The squadron CC is responsible of his squadron's response during an emergency, and he probably received a direct order of knowing where his resources are during this watch from his Group or Wing CC.

Bottom line... Your CC decided it was a good idea, this is a bad time to start criticizing what your state response is. Do not add to the tension. Go with the flow, and critici suggest afterwards.

[Eclipse]

^ +1 It's not written but it's also not a bad idea.

Safety of responders and ancillary personnel is always a first-priority and also a problem in situations like this.
I don't think there's been a major storm in the last decade that hasn't wound up having a few CAP people in
need of locating or actual assistance.

I wouldn't get too wrapped around the axle about it, just check in and move on.

If he's smart he'll take texts and emails, too, but whatever.

[RRLE]

I'm just curious on how someone is supposed to check-in on a daily basis. FPL (Florida Power and Light) is predicting over 2 million people will lose power in FL. Once the power is out, the cell towers run on batteries. During the last hurricane, about 10 years ago, the cell tower batteries were depleted inside 24 hours.

My land line came back within 24 hours, but how many members still have those? The cell towers were out for 5-7 days.

From following the discussions here, most members do not have CAP radios. So how does one check-in in the absence of power and cell phones. I think the commander is going to be doing a lot of driving around - assuming the streets are open and not flooded.

[Luis R. Ramos]

It will be up to them to find an alternate.

At this point it is too early to be having these discussions.

Seacamper is the one asking about checking in. He is not from Florida, unless Florida Power and Light works  in South Carolina, your question is not valid.

Please wait until the emergency is over then criticize/comment/complain or alabate/celebrate.

Let those in power carry out their plan, be it good or bad in your eyes. Do not make them doubt their response as it may lead to a change of plans in mid-ops. A bad idea when things are crappy.

I am sure they have a Plan B.

Or it may come to nothing, by the hurricane dying to the sea...

[stillamarine]

I'm just curious on how someone is supposed to check-in on a daily basis. FPL (Florida Power and Light) is predicting over 2 million people will lose power in FL. Once the power is out, the cell towers run on batteries. During the last hurricane, about 10 years ago, the cell tower batteries were depleted inside 24 hours.

My land line came back within 24 hours, but how many members still have those? The cell towers were out for 5-7 days.

From following the discussions here, most members do not have CAP radios. So how does one check-in in the absence of power and cell phones. I think the commander is going to be doing a lot of driving around - assuming the streets are open and not flooded.

After Katrina Verizon put generators in all their towers. When Gustav hit I had no problem using my phone minus some of the locations I was in were in the boonies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Luis R. Ramos]

This response from StillaMarine is positive.

Maybe the towers in the affected area are protected the same way. The companies providing coverage for the cell towers may have made different plans to prevent disruptions on their cell tower service, and whether these will be effective or not cannot be known at this time.

Options:

1. Install generators in towers serviced by other companies as done on the Verizon towers.
2. Install solar cells at the towers to recharge batteries.
3. Designate brigades to work in conjunction with electric companies to restore service to the cell towers as a priority.

All-lets hope that everything works as planned to mitigate the disaster in the worst case, and that Matthew moves to the sea and dies down in the best of cases.

Let us trust that the DOS and CCs of the areas affected have done their best, and done their job.

[Eclipse]

COWs are a big piece of the response plans.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/24/technology/carriers-hurricanes/

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-statement-on-hurricane-matthew.htm

http://towerpoint.com/preparing-for-disaster-carriers-plan-for-2015-hurricane-season/

http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/2015/09/how-carriers-are-preparing-unthinkable

[Eclipse]

Disney closed for only 4th time in history...

http://wdwnt.com/blog/2016/10/video-see-walt-disney-worlds-magic-kingdom-prepares-hurricane/

http://wdwnt.com/blog/2016/10/update-walt-disney-world-closes-theme-parks-early-today-day-friday/

[PHall]

This response from StillaMarine is positive.

Maybe the towers in the affected area are protected the same way. The companies providing coverage for the cell towers may have made different plans to prevent disruptions on their cell tower service, and whether these will be effective or not cannot be known at this time.

Options:

1. Install generators in towers serviced by other companies as done on the Verizon towers.
2. Install solar cells at the towers to recharge batteries.
3. Designate brigades to work in conjunction with electric companies to restore service to the cell towers as a priority.

All-lets hope that everything works as planned to mitigate the disaster in the worst case, and that Matthew moves to the sea and dies down in the best of cases.

Let us trust that the DOS and CCs of the areas affected have done their best, and done their job.

Speaking as someone who actually works for a telephone company.

Generators at Cell Sites are nice to have, but they come with their own problems too.
They need a fuel supply. The standard is a four day supply.
They need normal routine maintenance. Usually every 90 days or so.

Cell sites normally have back-up batteries that are supposed to be good for 8 hours.
Solar panels can be used to help keep the batteries up.

[RRLE]

3. Designate brigades to work in conjunction with electric companies to restore service to the cell towers as a priority.

The FPL priorities in my neck of the woods, agreed to with local government, are schools and hospitals first.

The schools may be a priority since many shelters are located in them and they may want the power back before the generator fuel runs out.

[LTC Don]

I'm just curious on how someone is supposed to check-in on a daily basis.

I would like to point out, that BITD, when communications was a 'thing' in CAP, checking in would not be a (major) problem.  The number of member owned radios out there in the wild would shock you.  Now, CAP communications is a hollow shell of what once was a thriving nationwide system.  Alas, I'm an old fart now, and am prone to reminiscing about the good ol' days that sometimes weren't actually all that great.


Kudos to the commander wanting to keep track of his people.  This is a terrible situation for SC, GA, and FL.  In all my years I've never seen a storm take this kind of track and be this strong.  North Carolina stands ready to help in any way we can.