Not too much to report on this week after all the excitement of the snow across the country, the flooding Port Elizabeth and yet another cold front looming but still just a severe trough in the South Atlantic.
Greg Mossop, G0DUB, Emergency Coordinator for Region One reported that there was again severe flooding in the Philippines! A report circulated earlier this week, compiled by Jim Linton, VK3PC, read as follows:-
The Philippine Amateur Radio Association, PARA, activated the Ham Emergency Radio Operations (HERO) on two metre and 40 metres passing essential traffic during the recent widespread flooding in Manila.
The news media reports that 66 died in the torrential rain and officials estimated 300,000 fled their homes in the capital city of Manila submerging 80 per cent of it.
Eddie Valdez DU1EV, Chief Operating Officer of PARA said that HERO was on air from Monday night the 6th through to Thursday the 9th of August, including one of the ham emergency radio operators who found himself affected by the flood waters and fleeing his home after two days of operations.
Eddie said the sun finally, but only partially, showed up on the Thursday, with the floods receding in most parts. He said tonnes of garbage littered the roads, parks and drains in Manila and surrounding provinces.
A big clean-up is under way. In the worst affected areas like Marikina City, the Metro Manila Development Authority said it would take about a month to clean and clear the drainage canals. Nearly two weeks of monsoon rains across the Philippines main island of Luzon peaked with a 48-hour deluge that battered Manila and surrounding regions.
This was the worst rains to hit Manila since Tropical Storm Ketsana killed
464 people in 2009. Eddie DU1EV had, through the PARA website, warned of the pending rains asking everyone to be prepared by monitoring the emergency frequencies of 7.095 MHz and 144.740 MHz.
A reminder again that if conditions in the 40m band are not good between Gauteng and the Western and Southern Cape, please consider using 10,135 MHz in the 30 m band and if it is occupied, drop down to 10,125 MHz as an alternative. Tests done this week showed us that it is an excellent alternative between the 20 and the 40 m bands.
Reporting for Hamnet, this is Francois Botha, ZS6BUU.
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