Windy Spring Weather

So far the biggest severe weather problem in my immediate area has been many days of sustained high winds from 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 or 55 mph at times. [Graphic is one of the Japanese symbols for wind.] My beautiful old maple tree, struck by lightening about 6 years ago, has been slowly dying dropping twigs and large branches ever since. In early March, during a night of high winds, a large limb fell into my neighbor's front yard barely missing their house. It's been a given that evenutally the tree had to be taken down, but nostalgia and the desire to retain a prime nesting tree for lots of native birds (along with the ludicrously high cost of tree removal) meant delay as long as possible. Sadly, in the necessary process of removing the tree, I have denied housing to a mated pair of large red-headed woodpeckers, which are not that common in this area. These photos were taken on March 19th:

9:00 a.m.

2:00 p.m. 2:05 p.m. The stump was so depressing, that I turned it into something useful.

The Cowtown - Marathon on February 28th: It was 34 at race start and the winds were howling through downtown Fort Worth straight out of the north at 35+ mph. The RACES coordinator assigned me as radio operator to the Half Marathon Press Van (call sign eventually trimmed down to "Half Press," but without a media representative it was just me and the driver in his warm pick-up truck. We drove out to the Split where racesr divide and those running the Half Marathon head back downtown. After the bulk of the runners had passed, we were asked to follow one of the wheelchair participants back to town, then were sent out to locate the position of the last runners in both the Marathon and Half Marathon. I was back at the RACES Net Control trailer by 11am, long after most of the Marathon Runners had completed the race. It was mid-40's and the wind was still gusting over 40. PHOTO: The Bass Brothers' compound is on the other side of the wall:

TESSA CONFERENCE - March 14th: I didn't make it after all.

SEVERE WEATHER / RACES DEPLOYMENT: I've activated twice in the past 2 weeks to log RACES severe reports at the EOC. In both cases storms did not significantly impact Arlington. The ones on March 30th stayed well north, dumping golfball to baseball size hail on the Texas Motor Speedway (where RACES members are stationed for just such an event) and across the northern portions of Tarrant & Dallas Counties. The RACES Net for this storm seemed somewhat disorganized and as soon as it became clear that the storms would stay well north, I essentially quit logging. A small cell to our southwest moved across southern Arlington with heavy but brief rains. As soon as it moved out of the County, we shut down the OEM/EOC. I got home about 12:30 a.m. Depending on the traffic lights, it takes me 5 to 7 minutes to drive to the OEM. Getting ready takes me a bit longer, so if I'm aware weather is moving in, I'm already watching its progress online and try to get ready ahead of time, just in case. The RACES Net is not activated until and unless the NWS issues a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Tarrant County, at which the RACES Net and various local OEM's and the Arlington EOC also activates. Not a problem during business hours. Most storms, unfortunately, come through here later in the day. RACES members are well aware of predicted storm formation, watch the weather updates and then the storms as they approach from hundreds of miles away. Those doing storm spotting typically deploy before a warning is even issued in order to be in place as storms approach the county. RACES members are also located a some of the local television stations, who do a superb job with weather events, in order to advise on-air meteorologists of spotter reports in real-time.

FIRST WEDNESDAY Siren Tests - March/April: Radio problems with the one on 4th March resulted in the need to switch to the "back-up repeater," which I did not have pre-programmed into my radio. Although I could hear traffic perfectly, it wasn't until just before the end of the 20 or 25 minutes test cycle that I became aware that no one could hear me. Unfounded negative comments were made specifically using my name by a couple of guys speculating on matters that were untrue. It takes a lot to make me angry, but being publically accused as being the culprit for problems I had nothing to do with ... Let's just say I'm reconsidering participation in radio activities if deliberate negative public speculation, which should never have been made an issue on air, even IF they had been correct, are the sort of stuff that goes on.

I did, however, put aside my rare royally PO'd miffedness long enough to participate in the April 1st siren test. Although all the sirens sound (hopefully), only a few can be visually observed each month due to the number of volunteers who do this versus the 49 sirens scattered around the City of Arlington. This month I observed siren #16, which is located on the southwest side of the large UT Arlington Sports Complex. UTA holds its warning tests on the same day just prior to the city test. As I was waiting, I could hear their undulating electronic siren wail as well as the spoken warnings and instructions that are broadcast all over campus.

Volunteer Activities since Christmas

• Jan 7: OEM Siren Test (1st Wednesday of every month) - we physically inspect the siren for signs of tampering and damage, then monitor the siren as it is tested for sound and rotation for both the direct current and battery back-up tests
• Jan 8: EMST meeting at the OEM - set schedule (finally) for the rest of the year
• Jan 17: Red Cross Shelter Management Training (all day)
• Jan 27-28: DFW "ice storm" - it was 19, we had some freezing rain, streets icy overnight til around noon, I stayed inside til they cleared

• Jan 31: NWS Skywarn and Advanced Storm Spotter Training (all day) - excellent!!! Sponsored by local NBC Channel 5. Held throughout the state and country. If you have any interest in weather at all, you'll find this very interesting. They expected about 250 to attend. They quit counting at 400 when the registration blanks ran out. Check your local National Weather Service website and look for the Skywarn Logo to find a class near you.
• Feb 4: I served as Net Controller for OEM Siren Test (my first opportunity)
• Feb 10: Severe Weather moving across Texas dropped a small F1 tornado in Colleyville just west of DFW airport, but still causing hundreds of thousands of $$ in damage; I entered RACES spotter & NWS reports into Arlington's OEM Event Log - from home this time - won't try to do that again for many reasons, one being no battery back-up for my computer & modem
• Feb 17 - RACES quarterly dinner at Spring Creek Barbeque - yum!
• Feb 19: CERT & EMST Search & Rescue Training at the Fire Training Center taught by fireman who instructs search & rescue to fire department personnel. Indoor lecture and instruction very interesting. Moved to training tower to walk around inside in small groups without the lights on to find way out - was a very short exercise and we primarily stood around doing nothing in the rather chilly wind for well over an hour. The AFD did have several of their specialized units come over for us to inspect: Fire Chief's SUV, Quint (ladder truck that reaches 105 feet from ground), Water Rescue and Hazmat trucks. Interesting. Those trucks are a LOT bigger when you stand right next to them than they look driving down the street

Coming Up:

• Feb 28: The Cowtown - Formerly called The Cowtown Marathon; with so many different races being run the same day they've dropped "Marathon" from the name; Apx 70 hams will participate in various locations and positions to assist race officials, ride in Sag Wagons, be present at water stops, etc. Shifts start at 4:30 A.M. I'll find out Thursday where I'll be positioned.
• March 14: 9 TESSA (TExas Severe Storm Asso) 2009 National Storm Conference in Colleyville - 9am to 5pm - open free to the public - extremely interesting - I've been 3 times before.
• April 2-5: Texas Motor Speedway (for some at least); Because of the vagaries of spring weather in Texas, RACES members are on site to monitor weather conditions and provide radio contact with the NWS regarding watches, warnings and alerts. Pretty much every year something weather related occurs.
• April: if there are enough hams interested, I'm going to take an EMCOMM 1 class (Emergency Communications) so that I can serve as a Net Controller during severe weather and other emergency events for RACES. A final test is involved.

A great guy at Arlington Amateur Radio Club has given me 15-foot radio antenna so that I will have much better broadcast ability from home. While I have no problem receiving local repeater reception (a repeater takes a weaker transmission, ups the gain then repeats/broadcasts the signal across a much wider area - overcoming the problems with line-of-sight transmissions) my little hand-held radio (which looks like a clunky early 1990's cell phone) coupled with the fact that I live at the lowest point in the neighborhood, means if I want to talk on the radio from home I generally have to go outside and stand in the drive-way or walk up the street - not ideal during a storm! I didn't know the antenna would be THAT tall. A couple of the men from the AARC are going to come over to help mount it to my eaves or on a pole sitting next to the house. I wonder if it will serve as a lightning rod. I hope not. My 45-foot maple tree, only 15 feet from the house, was struck by lightening a few years ago and has slowly but surely and sadly died, branch by branch and limb by limb, ever since. That was scary enough.

If, per chance, anyone stops by to read my blog, and IF someone has any questions, please post those in the comment section. Thanks for reading.

UPDATE: Damage to Sonnetheil House

The owner reports that there was 7 feet of water in his 21st @ Seeley neighborhood. Even though his house sits several feet above street level, there was still over a foot of water on the first floor causing damage to: kitchen appliances (to be replaced), rugs & furniture (being cleaned), original parquet flooring (narrow parquet and lathing warped, floors buckled - most likely not salvageable), walls (converted from plaster to sheet rock can be repaired), period wall paper (will need to be replaced), elevator (apparently undamaged), floor tile in first floor bath (damage unknown)outside a/c units (total loss), Carriage House (ground floor kitchen and bedroom to be gutted and replaced). Insurance claim: denied. He had hurricane insurance (damage from wind). The bulk of his damages was caused solely by flooding. Many of the houses in the neighborhood were at or closer to street level and were far more heavily damaged.

Going Silent - OOPS, CHANGED MY MIND

Don't totally ignore the following previously expressed sentiment - it gets lonely around here. "It appearing that no one is reading this blog, I see no point in continuing it further. Too bad. In the ramble of personal observations there is some real information of interest and importance. I'll not remove the blog because at least the links have merit. If you've stopped by, thank you for your time and interest. If you'd like to leave a comment saying at least you've dropped by, I would appreciate it. One always hopes one hasn't totally wasted one's time."

Post Hurricane Ike

On Saturday, September 12th I was asked to show up at the EOC to input data regarding evacuees who were already in the 2 then-open shelters in Arlington. I got there about 8:30 and left at 1:30 in the morning. Around noon on Sunday the CERT coordinator called to say Arlington was opening 2 more shelters and to see if I could help register Beaumont evacuees who were in transit from Tyler. Their previous shelter had been an abandoned Wal-Mart crammed with almost 1,500 evacuees, limited rest room facilities, no showers, mold & mildew, an unscreened criminal element and fights aplenty. We were really concerned a second move would be too much for some of them. Instead, many said they felt blessed to get out of there and find themselves in a large Lifestyle Center at Lake Arlington Baptist Church. The first thing many did was shower! And say repeated "Thank You" 's. I am scheduled to volunteer on Monday, provided that a shelter has a need. Some will be open through next week. After that those that are unable to return home will likely be moved to a long-term shelter or find a FEMA approved hotel or motel room. Unfortunately, even if they get free housing for a month, they lose the benefit of free medical care and dinners available at the shelters.

UPDATE on Sonnenfield House: My daughter was told the owner was evacuating ahead of the storm, but when I was looking at the after-Ike satellite photos, I spotted what had to be a red vehicle in the drive way. Unfortunately, he stayed one night too long and woke to find his truck already flooded and ended up having to ride it out. The house sits 6 blocks from The Strand. The Strand was flooded and impassable on Thursday. While the huge storm surge created by winds and a monster-sized storm crashed against the Seawall everyone expected to protect them (to a certain point, anyway), the surge itself flowed into Galveston Bay, around the island and flooded the unprotected harborside - something apparently unexpected, particularly that far in advance of the storm itself. Flooding caused a backup in the storm sewer system and it was bubbling up through the neighborhood storm drains, which caused a good part of the mid-island flooding. Further, the waves crashing against the seawall dumped tons of water on the roadway which then flowed down and into the neighborhoods as well. The first floor of the carriage house (garage with apartment on top) was destroyed. The house, despite sitting up several feet above ground level, had 2' of water in it. Needless to say furniture, carpet, equipment, drapes were all damaged as it had not been moved upstairs. Owner believes since the water went down almost as quickly as it came up, some of that can be salvaged. The original hand-laid parquet flooring buckled from the water in the wood. It can be salvaged and relaid. Wall covering on the first floor will likely have to be replaced. I'm not sure whether current owner replaced the original lathing and plaster with sheet rock when he remodled, but in any event lower portions of the walls will likely have to be cut out and replaced. The house has huge storm shutters. Because the winds were less than expected and it has weathered much higher wind speeds, it is likely none of the glazing nor stained glass was damaged. I have no information what damage was done to the filigree/gingerbread that covers the exterior of the house. One tree fell but missed the house. Owner's wife was somehow able to get on the island on Monday, 9/15, and evacuated owner and 2 neighbor families. He apparently has already returned to the island to assist in debris removal and clean-up.

Link to photos of Sonnetheil House: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/566801016kobbIG

This satellite photo taken 9/17 shows the location of the Sonnentheil House. For a larger image click on the photo. To see a large 1.4MG .jpg of this entire area of Galveston, including part of the Cruise Terminal, The Strand, and with the neighborhood highlighted (Sonnentheil House and Carriage House is lower left):

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2260477070099778304Ucmaec

Link to NOAH with incredible post-Ike satellite photos of the Texas Gulf coast. Double click image for full-size image. These are 3 to almost 4MG's so may take a while to open. Because the photos are angled you will see all white at fist. Scroll down or all the way right to begin viewing the images.

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/ike/IMAGES/ike_c25885932.htm

Hurricane Ike

Though I'd been expecting to hear something from the Arlington EOC either for assistance with EMST or CERT, no news at all, other than that the National Preparedness Month push at 3 local superstores had been cancelled. I don't believe that any of the Arlington shelters are being activated. Nor have I heard or seen any requests for volunteers from the Red Cross on this side of the Metroplex. There are calls out from Dallas, who has already found it necessary to add 400 beds to it's 1000 bed shelter at the Convention Center, and from Austin. The City of Fort Worth is accepting evacuees. Because of probably flash floods and potential tornados as it moves through this area (depending on where it makes landfall), RACES is on standby. The latest report is that the line has shifted a bit further west putting Tarrant County closer to the center of circulation means a higher liklihood.

Update: Not 10 minutes after I originally posted this I got a call to see if I am available to monitor the Tarrant County Repeater at 146.94 and/or 442.400. I've been listening off and on and haven't heard any traffic, but I understand buses are headed this way. Update: I listened from home and there was essentially no radio traffic. I never was called to go in.



My DD decided 6:30 this morning would be a good time to call and ask if I had a different phone number for her Dad in Houston to offer a safe place. She's been unable to reach him, which is no surprise - long story. She was able to contact a friend who fully rennovated and restored (a lot of his own carpenter's handiwork) the Sonnentheil House, one of the homes that survived the 1900 hurricane. He had already evacuated. Since the Strand (which is already flooding from the harbor side of the island) and the Gulf are each only 4 or 5 blocks in opposite directions from its location on 21st street, with a 20' storm surge it's probably a given that the lower floor of his home is going to be innundated, which will be a horrible shame. The trees have likely weathered far worse winds. If you'd like to see additional photos, including an outstanding stain glass window on the stair landing:

http://community.webshots.com/user/LoneStarStitcher

Debrief on CERT Shelter activities

Monday, Sept 1st: Gung ho with energetic good intentions and ready to assist, several CERT volunteers rapidly deployed as soon as we got the call to show up at the large Salvation Army facility in Arlington. Living only 5 minutes away, I was the 2nd to show up from CERT about 11:45 noon. Four buses were on their way from some parish south of New Orleans, which would stop in Mesquite for medical attention and to be registered, then sent on to Arlington - or so the story went. In addition to us, there were numerous citizen and other former Salvation Army volunteers. Way too many. The Salvation Army set up cots in their gym for 194 guests. The Guests were to be admitted to the facility through the chapel where they would register, have their ID's checked and be given bracelets to identify them as being an individual allowed to be in the buildings. Following that they were to be taken to the gym where they would be assigned a cot and could take showers. A separate dining room was to feed 50 at a time.

Hours passed and no one knew where the buses even were. In addition to a dozen police officers and some firemen/EMT's, there were news crews from all the major affiliates and a couple of the local channels. One even did a live broadcast at 5. But no Guests had arrived. At 6:30 we were told to stand down and go home. Which is when I discovered I'd locked my keys in the car while juggling McDonald burgers and drinks at lunch. I managed to wave down the last volunteer just before he left the parking lot. He was kind enough to drive me home for the extra set of keys I normally carry in my purse.

I never heard from Tarrant County RACES who had emailed a plea for radio operators to handle shelter communications in the rest of Tarrant County. Arlington decided not to use radio communications after all, but judging by how difficult it was to reach anyone in charge (meaning paid employee) at the Arlington EOC by phone, I think that was a mistake. I would have liked to have been there to see what it is they were doing.

Tuesday: I was up at 6 waiting for email from the Arlington EOC. After 8 I called the CERT coordinator to find out what assistance was needed and was told he would have to call me back because the paid employees were in a meeting. An hour or so later he called to say the buses were in Dallas and soon on their way, and he would let me know. I was thinking maybe an hour. So I did some chores then sat by the phone waiting , and finally just dozed off. When I woke just before noon, I discovered that instead of calling there was yet another email asking who was available. So I called only to find out 2 buses had already arrived and they already had enough CERT volunteers at the Salvation Army. I was told to show up around 4 to relieve them. Ok. I was preparing to leave when I got a call to tell me to wait until 6. I asked about a large church who was expecting 4 buses. I was called back several minutes later and told me to go there instead. When I arrived, I was told I could not enter their shelter area until I had had the Red Cross background check. I showed them my city ID and explained I had already had one. I got a blank stare, so I called the EOC only to find the volunteer coordinator somewhat befuddled and side-tracked. When I was told the background check would only take 2 minutes, I told the EOC volunteer to forget it, Then I discovered background check required personal information typed into a website. As soon as I hit send, I was allowed in to the shelter area. I got an email Friday saying it had been completed and I could view it online. It was, of course clear. I've never even had a traffic ticket. What they are really screening for are persons convicted of crimes against children and violent felons. It was apparent as soon as we walked into the shelter it already had an abundance of volunteers. I asked their shelter manager what specifically I could do. He answered "uhhhhhhh?." So I asked if they really needed additional volunteers. "No." They had in 3 buses and had been told the 4th had already turned around. The coordinator commented he didn't know if they'd even need a shelter more than 1 night. So I left and drove 5 minutes to the Salvation Army to see if anyone needed a break. It was just after 4. There were many people just standing around waiting for something to do. The CERT volunteers had already departed.

As it turned out, my services weren't needed. The shelters closed after 2 nights because all the evacuees were able to go back home. I was disappointed that after all that waiting that I wasn't able to assist anyone, but I grateful that those that needed services were able to return home so quickly.

GRATUITOUS PUPPY UPDATE: Sisal may have found a home - IN QUEBEC!!

Update One year Later: The pups were one year old on April 4th, 2009. They are all still with daughter. With Mom that makes 4 big dogs.