Good grief! September already! Time really does fly while you’re having fun playing radio..
Bad news from theguardian.com says that Japan’s strongest typhoon of the year has made landfall in the country’s south-west, bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 252 km/h, strong enough to destroy homes.
The meteorological agency said Tropical Cyclone SHANSHAN, referred to in Japan as Typhoon No 10, made landfall on the island of Kyushu at around 8am on Thursday the 29th August. The power company said 254,610 houses were already without electricity.
The meteorological agency predicted 1,100mm of precipitation in southern Kyushu in the 48 hours to Friday morning, around half the annual average for the area, which comprises Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures.
Authorities issued a rare special typhoon warning for most parts of Kagoshima, a prefecture in southern Kyushu. Residents in at-risk areas have been urged to remain on high alert, with transport operators and airlines cancelling trains and flights.
Japan has issued special typhoon warnings only three times in the past. The first came in July 2014, when a strong typhoon brought record-breaking waves to the southern prefecture of Okinawa before moving north, killing three people in landslides in Nagano prefecture.
In October 2016, authorities issued a similar warning for Okinawa’s main island. The typhoon moved north over the sea west of the southernmost main island of Kyushu.
The most recent special typhoon warning came in September 2022 – the first time the warning had been issued outside Okinawa prefecture, according to public broadcaster NHK.
The potential for major damage is high given SHANSHAN’s sluggish speed. The storm is moving northwards at just 15km/h, the meteorological agency said.
There have already been reports of deaths in landslides – a major hazard in mountainous areas – while tens of thousands of people have been advised to evacuate.
“Typhoon SHANSHAN is expected to approach southern Kyushu with extremely strong force through Thursday,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters earlier. “It is expected that violent winds, high waves and storm surges at levels that many people have never experienced before, may occur.”
The agency also issued its highest “special warning” for violent storms, waves and high tides in parts of the Kagoshima region, with authorities there advising 56,000 people to evacuate.
The warnings indicate the “possibility that a major disaster prompted by [the typhoon] is extremely high,” Satoshi Sugimoto, chief forecaster of the meteorological agency, told a news conference.
Thanks to theguardian.com for these excerpts from their article.
I have reports from two South African sources for you this week.
Brian Jacobs, ZS6YZ, Deputy National Director of HAMNET tells me that HAMNET Gauteng were invited by Ekurhuleni Disaster Management to attend the Weather and Climate Information Services Early Warning Systems for Southern Africa (WISER-EWSA) Co-Production and Testbed preparatory Co-design Workshops that were held in Katlehong from 13-16 August 2024. Brian ZS6YZ, Leon ZS6LMG and Johan ZS6DMX attended the workshops and were also requested to do two presentations.
Leon presented on the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is an XML-based data format for exchanging public warnings and emergencies between alerting technologies. CAP allows a warning message to be consistently disseminated simultaneously over many warning systems to many applications, such as Google Public Alerts and Cell Broadcast. CAP increases warning effectiveness and simplifies the task of activating a warning for responsible officials.
Brian did a presentation on Amateur Radio, and HAMNET, and also gave the local community some information about what to do if an aircraft happened to crash in or near the community so that they are aware that the scene is effectively a crime scene. As a result, everything needs to be preserved as evidence for the accident investigators from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA).
It was a very informative workshop and, while Brian and Leon have in the past been involved in SA Weather Service workshops, it again helped to strengthen relations with the Weather Service, and Ekurhuleni Disaster Management. Further, the opportunity to introduce Amateur Radio and HAMNET to the community also helps when HAMNET is requested to work in the community, while assisting Ekurhuleni Disaster Management with emergency communications.
Thank you Brian, for that update. More from him in next week’s bulletin.
Then Ian Bradley ZS1BR, has sent me a report on the All Tar Motor Rally, held at Killarney race track in Cape Town at the beginning of August. He says:
”Radio operators were greeted by an unusually chilly morning with some having to scrape frost off their vehicles before heading to the racetrack at Killarney! Control was established at the New Pits by 08:00 with a dual band magmount antenna stuck to the metal roof of the building giving us good comms across the track. Due to the proximity of all stages, we were able to run on VHF simplex for the duration of the rally. However, some QRM on our primary frequency forced us to move to our backup frequency partway through the day.
“As always, operators were placed at the start and end of each stage, as well as a couple of floating radios to fill in any gaps. Andre, ZS1ATX had the best seat in the house, being situated with the commentators in the tower.
“The first stage of the rally was underway by 09:10 with 41 competitors heading out at one-minute intervals. The field was split between regular rally cars and “challengers” which were a mix of track and road cars who would not normally be able to compete in regular rallies.
“If the sheer number of vehicles weren’t enough to keep operators’ hands full, a serious accident occurred during the second stage. Medics and recovery vehicles were quickly dispatched to the scene and the stage paused. A second incident occurred in the third stage, bringing it to a halt while the driver and navigator were carefully extracted and transported to hospital.
“All manner of breakdowns, from blown turbos to flat tyres, whittled down the field to 29 cars, with some skipping stages to undertake repairs. No further incidents hampered the day however, and the race was brought to an end just as the sun started to dip below the horizon.
“Special thanks to Roger ZR1AKK, Davy ZR1FR, Johan ZR1JL, Andre ZS1ATX, Jannie ZS1JFK, Johann ZS1JM, and of course to Ian himself, ZS1BR”
Ian encourages amateurs to volunteer their time and expertise, even if new to amateur radio or sports communication, to assist in making these events safer while also making some noise on the air! Thank you, Ian for your usual comprehensive report.
From a sunny and mild Western Cape, this is Dave Reece ZS1DFR reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.