In St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, local Amateur radio operators worked 18 hours a day since what has been described as the storm of the century struck our area.  Forsaking their own property and in some cases their heath, these volunteer pitch in.  Not only providing communications for the Red Cross, but supplying the only link to the state capital linking the state EOC with the Parish EOC.  When they are not working as communicators, they hand out food, deliver water and whatever the need. 

In Covington, La. The Communications for the American Red Cross was moved to a Amateurs heavily damaged home when the local office lost power.  With generator and battery power, 5 Hams using makeshift antennas supplied the Red Cross and the Parish EOC with communications.

Now that emergency nets in St.Tammany Parish region has ended, I  feel it's time to take a few minutes to recognize the contributions of the Amateur operators that stepped forth to prove two important things.

This list is not complete as I am working to gather all of the names of the operators that worked in our region.  As their name, call and stories arrive, I will add them to this list. 

Jerry - W5NJJ worked to restore his repeater to full operation within hours after the winds subsided and allowing him to work.  He tended the generator that charged batteries. Sleeping 3 or 4 hours at a time so the generator can be fueled and the batteries maintained, this 85 plus year old Ham has given the local operators the ability to help others.  This went on for 2 weeks until his power was restored.

Tony – KD4SSQ help open a Red Cross Shelter the day before Katrina hit Southeast Louisiana.  He, and his brother Gerard Tango - KD5SSR stayed for 7 days and nights providing needed communications. When not acting as the communications link, they pitched in serving meals, assisting security and any other task of them.

Harris - KB5BFK was attempting to remove a generator from his truck when a Oak tree crashed onto his truck.  With a 5 inch gash on his forehead, and no way to reach a hospital for over 2 days, Harris was the net controller for 18 hours a day.  Once we could get him the the hospital, he was checked and released, and within a few hours, he was back on the air until a fever of over 103 put him back in the hospital for better part of a week.

Noel Jr. - KC5CSN setup replacement antennas once the winds dropped below 50 MPH, them wend on to assist the American Red Cross with their ECU (Emergency Communications Unit) that arrived after the hurricane with no operator. For the next 2 weeks he assisted, and in some cases installed and repaired equipment with little tools and parts to work with.

Larry - KD5LWJ operated as control operator for the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) for Tangipahoa Parish.  He and other local Hams relayed messages between St. Tammany E.O.C. and local Red Cross and the State E.O.C. in Baton Rouge.

James - K5QNT & Bob K5NDT members of the Southeast Louisiana A.R.C. setup H.F. operations between the St. Tammany Parish hospital in Covington, LA and the Heart Hospital in La Combe. LA. and the Hospital in Franklinton, LA. providing a reliable link for the hospitals.  In one case, they assisted in saving the life of a patient in Franklinton by getting a life flight to the hospital.  The patients injuries were beyond what the small hospital could provide.

Mike - W5PY operated at the Slidell hospital for three weeks after the hurricane completely destroyed his home.  Passing medical request to other hospitals, conducting health & welfare, Mike stayed on the job serving others while his home and property was in shambles. He stayed at his post for well over 4 weeks passing all sorts of messages.

Mike - KB5OZE took over my job as Communications Chair for the 3 parish area when torn muscles in my leg prevented me from working after almost 3 weeks of swelling and pain.  His efforts resulted in saving and transporting over 5 tons of meat from a storage felicity in Slidell, LA that lost their freezers.  After I got a freezer truck from Wal-mail, he lead to Slidell and inspected the meat to insure only frozen meat was loaded into the trailer. The froze meat was taken 25 miles to the First. Baptist Church in Covington, LA. where it was cooked and loaded onto Red Cross ERV's to feed the victims the devastated region.

K5AH - Edward returned home while the winds were still blowing.  Being on the fringe area of the disaster, Ed began taking Health & Welfare messages and relaying them on H.F. and by phone when possible.  Day after day, Ed stayed on the radio doing a job for free that many would not do for pay.   As a ham I understand we are called amateurs, but their was nothing amateur about the way these operators did their jobs.

KE5EKG - Simona, a new Ham that was uncomfortable talking on the radio, nevertheless running a net sucked it up and took over the 5LA net in the evenings for over 4 days as operations started up.

KE5FHP - Carlos, in the days following Katrina, he was between the Covington area and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  During his daily travels he reported on damage and blocked roads that was relayed to the different authorities.

KE5FHO - Paul, another new Ham that works for WVUE as a photographer.   During his travels in the early days of the recovery, Paul also reported on damage and other conditions that were relayed through the NO5LSA net control and on the authorities.

The amateur radio operators who worked shifts in the Communications Room at the Tangipahoa Parish OEP in Amite from Aug. 29 through Sept. 5, during the Hurricane Katrina emergency were:

In addition, the following hams worked at various locations around Tangipahoa and St. Tammany Parish:

Hams located at two hospitals are credited with saving at lease one life when the all normal means of communications to a small town hospital had collapsed.  A Ham assigned to that hospital was called upon to contact Hams at another hospital.  The other hospital was able to call in a Life-Flight to transport the critical patient to a hospital out of the disaster area. 

This is not the end of this story, its only the beginning and more will be added as time goes on.  I thank God for the Hams that responded to our call for help.  Amateur operators from Texas, Tennessee, Colorado, Washington State, Western Louisiana and other places responded to our call from help.

Even today, Amateur operators are working along the most severely damaged regions of the Katrina and Rita areas.

Out of state Hams

Karen E. Johansen  – WB5GEO
Communications Officer
St. Tammany Amateur Radio Club
Communications Co-chairperson
Northshore Region Division - American Red Cross