Radio Amateurs have been active in responding to the consequences of Tropical Storm Erika as it progressed through the Carribean.

The Radio Club of Dominica were active on 7.065MHz, 3.780MHz and local repeaters working with their Nation’s Emergency Operations Centre, Civil Defence and the Dominican Red Cross collecting reports from their members around the country. The storm killed 20 people in the Dominican Republic as 200-300mm of rain fell in 12 hours causing flooding and mudslides. Damage assessments are ongoing in the country which was reported to have had widespread power failures.

Although the storm is officially classed as dissipated, fears over the remnants of the storm as it passes over Cuba and then nears Florida on Sunday mean that local emergency groups remain alert and other countries in the Carribean are also ready to respond if needed.

Although band conditions have been poor for the last two days, Radio Amateurs are requested to listen carefully when operating around the pubished Atlantic Hurricane frequencies to ensure that there is no interference to any emergency traffic.

Sources: César Pio Santos HR2P, Rafael Martinez HI8KW