Central Europe has been consumed with news of heavy rainfall and flash flooding this week, from a storm named BORIS, particularly affecting Romania, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Deaths and displacements have been notified since last weekend.
Greg Mossop G0DUB has kept up a running daily news blog of reports coming in from IARU Region One Emcomm representatives from these countries. It would appear that Poland was severely affected, and Michal Brennek SP2J, has reported that the Prime Minister issued a state of natural disaster in southern parts of the country, allowing quicker response times and mobilized funds.
As part of the response, Krzysztof SP5E, President of the Polish National Society PZK reports that Polish Radio Amateurs responding to the flooding are likely to use VHF/UHF for the primary response but they are also noting that 3.760MHz, 7.110MHz, and 14.300MHz may also be used. All radio amateurs are asked to keep these Emergency Centre of Activity frequencies clear if needed for message handling.
The effects of the flooding are also being felt along the river Danube with Slovakia and Hungary already seeing rising river levels.
The rivers Danube, Elbe, Vistula and Oder all have catchment regions, and river flooding may be seen more widely across parts of Germany, Poland, Hungary and Romania over the coming days, so amateurs are asked please to listen before transmitting in the area on any of the Emergency Centre of Activity frequencies listed above and avoid causing interference to any response activities.
Thanks to the IARU for those last few paragraphs of their communique.
As of Wednesday (the last day or reporting), GDACS set the death toll at 22 souls over central Europe, with many thousands of homes destroyed, and an even greater number of people displaced. Water levels in rivers in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary were continuing to rise.
Thankfully, drier conditions did start to set in on Thursday the 19th.
Meanwhile the South China Sea, Philippines, Taiwan and the southernmost tip of Japan have faced their third Tropical Cyclone in about 2 weeks. I mentioned storm YAGI 14 days ago, and storm BEBINCA last Sunday. In the course of this week, storm PULUSAN started moving northwest towards eastern China and on 18 September at 00h00 UTC, its centre was located approximately 500 km south-east of Ryukyu islands, southern Japan with maximum sustained winds of 102 km/h. PULASAN was forecast to cross the central Ryukyu islands on 19 September and to make landfall as a tropical storm.
And to add insult to injury, Tropical depression GENER crossed the northern Philippines on 16-17 September, and according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) possibly would strengthen into a tropical storm as it passed south of the coasts of Hainan, south-eastern China and eastern Vietnam on 19 September. Moderate to locally very heavy rainfall was expected over northern Philippines, Hainan Island and most of Vietnam.
The Natal Witness, on its website, said on Thursday that Disaster management teams have been placed on high alert across KZN in anticipation of inclement weather conditions expected this weekend.
According to a weather advisory issued by the South African Weather Service (SAWS), a spring cut-off low will bring snow and very cold, wet, and windy conditions to the province this weekend.
These inclement weather conditions pose a potential risk to human life and livestock.
The MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Thulasizwe Buthelezi, has warned residents about the weather conditions, which could result in localised flooding of roads, walkways and low-lying bridges.
The weather conditions have caused road closures due to snow, particularly in areas around the Drakensberg. So the N3 between Estcourt and Harrismith was totally shut down yesterday morning by heavy snow. I doubt whether the road will be cleared for a couple of days.
Buthelezi said disaster management teams have been assigned to monitor areas prone to weather-related incidents.
Residents who rely on generators and braziers are urged to use caution when using these methods to keep warm.
This is of particular concern, because this weekend marks the start of the September vacation for all schools in the country, and therefore the N3 has the potential to be very busy over the weekend, as Gauteng holiday-makers stream perhaps to KZN’s coastline for some warmer weather and the start of spring. Travellers are indeed urged to exhibit caution, and not be in a hurry in their travels. As things stand, KZN is not accessible by the usual routes from Gauteng. Remember, a slow trip and safe arrival is far better than a rapid journey without an arrival at all.
The series of detonations of electronic pagers and 2-way radios in the middle-east this week gives amateur radio operators cause for concern. Pagers have mostly been phased out in community life, because they are a means of delivering one-way traffic only to the carrier of the pager, with no possibility of a reply. Their means of transmission is regarded as safer and not possible to be hacked, and was therefore preferred by their users in the middle-east.
However, our hobby and our use of two-way radio communication is affected by the media showing a variety of exploded two-way radios, apparently made by ICOM, one of the big three Japanese amateur radio manufacturers. The damaged radios shown in the pictures have usually been ICOM V82 2metre handhelds.
ICOM last made and shipped V82’s and their associated batteries in 2014, so anything that looks fairly new in the pictures is clearly some sort of clone. The problem is that ICOM’s reputation as a solid and dependable transceiver manufacturer is going to be tarnished by the sight of these damaged radios. Anybody with a trace of conspiracy obsession in him is going to condemn ICOM, and be scared off investing in any other ICOM product, on the grounds that the planting of explosives in these radios was done at an ICOM source, and what other ICOM products might also explode during use?
Happily, ICOM has been quick to distance itself from any involvement in this disastrous story, and hopefully the worldwide radio community, not just radio amateurs, will believe them as they plead no involvement in the plot.
In similar vein, the Taiwanese company whose pagers exploded is claiming no involvement, saying the trade mark for the pagers was licensed to a company in Hungary. However, damage has been done to both these companies, which is unfortunate. Of course, the political implications of all this is outside the scope of our report.
Finally, may I remind you that this weekend marks the Spring Equinox in the southern hemisphere, so the days are now longer than the nights, thank goodness, and we can hopefully start packing the heaters, extra duvets, and thick clothing away. It can’t happen too quickly, as far as I am concerned.
This is Dave Reece ZS1DFR, using all my ICOM radios without concern, and reporting for HAMNET in South Africa.