Pikeville College, Diary of a Flood, page 7

Open Access

Abstract

Ham Operators Provided Crucial Services by John Bray The waters of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy were rising in Pikeville. By six o'clock on the even ing of Monday, April 4, they were approaching flood stage - at 2 1/2 feet per hour. It wasn't a slow spreading over the banks as in flat lands, but a raging torrent moving mobile homes and all else in its path. Hams - amateur radio operators - are communicators. Partially we do it because we like to talk, but also because we are able to provide emergency communications, both within a disaster area and from it to the outside world. So, shortly after dark early Monday evening, several hams and people who wanted to assist set up a communications net- work within the city of Pikeville. Messages had to be relayed within the city as well as from ·the city to the outside world. The threat of telephone and electricity going out had already been considered. Communications were established between the Civil Defense and Red Cross headquarters in the Court House, a location at Pikeville College, ·a mobile unit, and two units which served as relays when necessary. Involved in this initial action were Denver Matney (WA4NOG), an employee of the post office in Pikeville; me-John Bray (WB4WKP). Assistant Dean of Students at Pikeville College; Willana Call (WA4RNOL a resident of Pikeville; and Bobby Pickelsimer (WB4GEL). They were assisted by Dixie Wehrheim, a Pikeville resident who normally works with children who have special sight problems. Initially, this network was worked through a two-meter repeater in Pikeville. A repeater is a device which automatically re-transmits signals at high power and from a great height, giving much greater range to mobile units transmitting at low power. This network served as Pikeville's only link to the outside world (as far as we know) through hams in Prestonsburg whose short wave stations were still operational. This worked fine until the power went off sometime between 2 and 4 a.m. Tuesday at the repeater site (WDHR-FM). At that time, Pikeville's last connection to the outside world was severed. I managed to drive to the top of Peach Orchard Hill and transmit a message describing conditions in Pikeville during Monday night and into Tuesday morning so that other amateurs in Prestonsburg could notify Civil Defense and Red Cross personnel in Frankfort and Louisville. Tuesday through Sunday are a blur of 20-22 hour days glued to a ham radio, transmitting emergency messages for Civil Defense, Red Cross and others. One. of the first things we did was to arrange for cots, blankets, pillows, sheets, food and medical supplies to be brought to the Science Building at the college. It had immediately been turned into an emergency shelter for townspeople as well as a food center for college employees whose homes were under water. We radioed for insulin to be delivered to people at the Pikeville College shelter. We arranged to get a girl in isolated Phelps to a hospital; her life expectancy would have been three to four hours had she not been transported - she had a ruptured appendix. Another person at Phelps had a stroke and radio communications got him to a hospital; his life expectancy would have been one to three hours otherwise. On Tuesday Pikeville College arranged a place and support facilities for us to set up a medium-power, high-frequency (short wave) station using my equipment. An antenna was strung up between the Pikeville College Administration Building and a dogwood tree. Matney operated the short wave link to the outside world, while I maintained the VHF, two meter links to various emergency headquarters in Pike County. Dixie Wehrheim acted as message coordinator for the hundreds of cOmmunications coming in and going out. Denver and I didn't leave the station for over fifteen hours on Tuesday. Willana Call helped in both parts of the station, serving as a two-meter person and a big rig operator. This was after the water had risen past her house. On Wednesday, several hams were airlifted from Owensboro, Kentucky, to serve as relief operators and to set up a station at Kermit, West Virginia. Others were flown in from Central City, Kentucky, to set up an emergency communications amateur radio station at Phelps, Kentucky. As of April 12 this was still the only communication Phelps had with the rest of the world for medical emergencies and supplies. Steve Morgan (WB4NHO) and Charlie Lott (WB4ANL) came to Pikeville while Mike Galyon (WA4SFR) and Bill Robinson (WA4KPE) went to Phelps. Dick Wyatt (WA4YPI) and his son David volunteered to drive in from Falmouth, Kentucky. The group of local and other hams provided emergency communications almost around the clock from the station at Pikeville College through midnight on Sunday, April 10 (Easter Sunday), when fairly reliable telephone communications had been reestablished. As they managed to get back on the air, other area hams gave their services. Tom Osborne (WA4MNM), Herschell Tackett (K4NLY) and Cordell Damron (K4BGQ) provided links to the outside from Robinson Creek, Virgie and Little Creek. While 0llive Justice (WB4CTV), Jim Hoskins (W4MVU) and Doug Wright (WA4GCX) helped link up Pikeville with Civil Defense and Red Cross, Bruce Olin (WB4FBB) served as one of Elkhorn City's links to both Pikeville and the outside. For most of Tuesday and Wednesday Jack Reeves (WB40WE) of Melvin , Kentucky, was Pikeville's only connection to the telephone system via ham radio. Many other hams helped - Roger Boyd (WA4LIG) served as a mobile unit, Pat Gugliotta (WB4NBC) contributed his two-meter radio for use at Civil Defense headquarters, and many others that I'm just too exhausted to try to think of - worked long, hard hours to help. I apologize to anybody I've forgotten. Funny things happened, too. A national guard jeep's antenna cut our antenna in half Friday morning, leaving us off the air for five hours. I can remember being told Saturday that it wasn't Wednesday. At the end we were all approaching physical exhaustion. But it was a good feeling, too. In at least five cases we had provided the communications necessary to save lives in medical emergencies, and knew we had provided necessary emergency communications services no one else would have been able to provide. A large round of thanks should go from us and the residents of Pike County to those radio amateurs who left their homes and jobs for our week of greatest trial and came voluntarily to Pikeville and other locations in the county to help with their communications skills. Unlike military units and other professional social service workers, these people do not get paid by anyone for what they do; it is truly a labor of love. The other important labor of love that kept many people going throughout the week was borne by Pikeville College. We could never have provided emergency communications services had the college not given us food, coffee, a location and runners to deliver messages. Even when its own employees were suffering loss of personal possessions and the college was bearing up under the devastation of its own housing and academic facilities, the people of the college reached out to help others, and allowed us to help others through the assistance they provided us. The flood of 1977 is over; its ramifications will probably be heard throughout the Big Sandy Valley for another twenty years. To say I was glad to be a part of it all somehow doesn't sound quite right. But I'm thankful I could help; it made me proud to be a ham and happy to be alive. (PHOTO) Hundreds of homeless made their way up Elm Street to Pikeville College for food and shelter. Tolzman (from page 6) Tolzman's schedule changed entirely on Monday evening, April 4. As people moved furniture and pe rsonal belongings out of the path of the muddy Levisa Fork and evacuated their homes, Tolzman decided to stay on the job through the night. For those of us who are now "authentic flood victims," helplessly watching the water rise into out homes soon became frustrating . Many people with in the city proper (on the town side of the three bridges that cross the river into Pikeville) climbed the hill to the Science Building at Pikeville College. Little did we realize that the hill would be our home for days to come. Dean Tolzman and crew provided cold cuts and coffee for everyone. They also prepared ice chests, coffee pots and soda pop for the patients from Mountain Manor Nursing Home who arrived during the night. "The electricity went off in the dining room and none of the stoves or anything would operate after 1 a.m.," Tolzman remembered. "We fixed cold cuts, coffee, pop and such until 4:30 Tuesday morning. We moved to the Bear's Den at 6 o'clock. The Bear's Den still had electricity for some reason. We transported the meat slicer and supplies from the dining room to the Den. I had a grill and a french frye . We scrambled eggs on the grill served coffee, juice, milk and dry cereal from about 6 to 10:30 a.m. We also fixed eggs, oatmeal, soup and things for the old people over in the Science Building and carried them over to the people." The rest of Tuesday, Tolzman served sandwiches and pork and beans, working continuously until midnight. At that time the electricity came back on and the operation was moved back to the cafeteria. Tolzman has a total of 21 employees, including 5 students. On Monday and Tuesday all of them were stranded out of town except for Joyce Robinson. According to Tolzman she worked continuously without sleep from 6 a.m . Monday (when she came on for her regular Monday shift) until sometime Wednesday evening. Several other employees came back as soon as they could get into town. Tolzman , whose wife Sarah is head resident of Condit Hall at Pikeville College, is the father of three sons, ages five years, two years and two months. He saw snatches of his family du ring the first few days after THE FLOOD. Providing food services for the Red Cross shelter in the college's Science Building and helping provide meals for other Red Cross shelters located throughout the area was a nonstop responsibility. Tolzman had plenty of volunteer help. Many people at Pikeville College stuck wit h him for hours - Gary Thrash, assistant administrator of the mining technology program; Alma Culton, associate professor of religion ; Russell Patterson, chairman of the Music Depart- ment Phyllis Dayer, instructor of French; students Reina Trusty, Denise Burgy, Fred Frederick, Rayanna Reeves, and John Morris; and Lukie Alemayeheu, wife of economics instructor Tsehai Alemayeheu. ARA Food Services and Pikeville College can be proud of Dean Tolzman. His decisions were timely and sensitive. The tremendous human needs that had to be met. His leadership produced an unhurried, warm atmosphere of friendly service at a time when others would have been barking orders and aggravating an already confused, tense situation. The personal sacrifice of time, sleep, energy and resources made by Tolzman and his people made it possible for all of us to retreat to the calm of the cafeteria and get away from the devastation outside. Would that we could all react so sensibly and selflessly .