In further news about Tropical Cyclone Debbie, the worst since 2011, it made landfall between Bowen and Airlie Beach on March 28 and damaged many buildings, destroyed millions of dollars in crops, hit vital infrastructure, dumped lots of rain and caused flash flooding.

Radio amateurs experienced in dealing with cyclones prepared by checking their radio gear, dismantling fragile antenna systems, running emergency power generators and doing checks on the local repeaters in Bowen, Mackay, Central Highlands and Townsville regions. Those radio amateurs that still had HF antennas checked into the 20m and 40m Queensland WICEN Nets, and other established nets.

One of the affected towns, Bowen, had its VHF repeater on-air throughout, despite lack of mains power in the town, thanks to the Bowen Radio Amateur Group and in particular Geoff Buchanan VK4JDW who had the repeater at his house. That antenna system survived 200kph winds and the repeater was powered by the household emergency generator.

Further inland the Central Highlands Linked Repeater System was functional, however its northern coastal node, the Midge Point Repeater, went off-line due to power system and structural damage.

Hams have been part of the recovery efforts with many embedded in the Queensland State Emergency Service, Queensland Rural Fire Brigade, care organisations and support teams for power companies. Throughout the area many radio amateurs used emergency power to keep their stations on-air.

This report comes from information supplied by The Townsville Amateur Radio Club and the Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network’s Queensland Northern Region by Gavin Reibelt VK4ZZ, and was issued by Jim Linton VK3PC, Chairman IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee.

Meanwhile, the Western Cape may soon be declared a disaster area. Dam levels in the province stand at 24.3%. James-Brent Styan, spokesperson for the Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, said: “We are still assessing the need to have the province declared a disaster area. These assessments get updated daily.”

The central Karoo district, West Coast district and Prince Albert have already been declared existing and ongoing disaster areas. As of March this year, new current disaster declarations supported by the provincial executive include the City of Cape Town, Witzenberg and Kannaland.

Additional and awaited new declarations are to be made for Knysna, Bitou,  Hessequa and the Oudtshoorn municipalities.

Bredell said that to date the province has already initiated certain interventions which have improved water security in some significant risk areas.

These interventions include equipped new boreholes as well as connections to the reservoir and pipe network in Laingsburg at a cost of R500000, a borehole drilled and equipped at a cost of R1.8million in Algeria, and two new boreholes at a cost of R2m in Tulbagh. The department has also allocated R2m to awareness programmes to drive water savings messages across the province.

The City, meanwhile, says the amount of rain that has fallen over parts of the metro will not materially change the low levels of dams and it is critical that we do not draw more from dams than is necessary during the upcoming winter months. The City, which utilises water from fewer dams than the province, says dam levels have declined to 26.2% – effectively about 16,2% – with approximately 100 days of useable water left at current consumption levels.

City Mayco member for informal settlements, water and waste services and energy, Xanthea Limberg, said the City is in the process of bringing forward several emergency supply schemes.

“This includes the Table Mountain Group Aquifer, a small-scale desalination plant, intensifying the City’s pressure management and water demand management programmes, and a R120m small-scale wastewater reuse plant at the Zandvliet water treatment works which will be capable of producing 10 million litres of high quality drinking water per day to the central and southern suburbs of Cape Town,” she said.

More exciting news in the City of Cape Town surrounds the preparation for the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, which takes place this coming Saturday, the 15th April. 16000 runners will compete in the half marathon, and another 11000 will contest the 56km ultra race.

HAMNET is strongly represented, with 14 vehicles on the route, roving, sweeping for stragglers, or supervising at timed cut-offs. Medical headquarters are at Tygerberg Hospital’s Provincial Emergency Management Centre, from where Ambulances, Motorbike Paramedics, HAMNET vehicles, Traffic Police, SAPS, Refreshment station support and the likes will be managed. All vehicles on the route will be tracked, and trunked radio systems, set up in talk groups for each separate deployment, will be used. Back-up plans have been made in case weather interferes with the intention to run along Chapman’s Peak Drive, and decisions will be made before the race starts.

Weather predictions for Cape Town next Saturday so far suggest a cloudless sky, a gentle Southerly breeze of about 8kph, no rain, and a maximum temperature of 22 degrees.

The Sponsors, the Race Organisers, and Metro Emergency Medical Services are to be congratulated on a very finely tuned system, which is already running like clockwork, and we wish them all, and the 27000 runners, a successful and safe race.

Next week, I’ll tell you more about HAMNET’s other major event support, the Comrades Marathon, run during June in Kwazulu Natal.

This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.