Ama­teur Radio Emer­gency Ser­vice (ARES) vol­un­teers from Alaba­ma, Arkansas, and Mis­sis­sip­pi are serv­ing the Red Cross and at shel­ters through­out the affect­ed area. 

 

With local and parish resources stretched to the lim­it, ham radio vol­un­teers have been serv­ing as the com­mu­ni­ca­tion link between Red Cross shel­ters and com­mand cen­tres, relay­ing infor­ma­tion on the needs at each shel­ter back to Red Cross offices. 

 

Pri­ma­ry bands in use as VHF, UHF, 7.255 MHz and 3.873 MHz LSB, with dig­i­tal oper­a­tion on 3.595 MHz. These fre­quen­cies should be kept clear for emer­gency traffic. 

 

The Ama­teur Radio Emer­gency Ser­vice (ARES) in Louisiana has acti­vat­ed, and Sec­tion Emer­gency Coor­di­na­tor Adam Tam­plain KD5LEH called for addi­tion­al volunteers. 

 

Offi­cials described it as the worst dis­as­ter since Super­storm Sandy in 2012, which was antic­i­pat­ed to have cost at least $30 mil­lion, with more than 40,000 homes dam­aged or destroyed, leav­ing tens of thou­sands of res­i­dents displaced. 

 

— Jim Lin­ton VK3PC, IARU Region 3 Chair­man, Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Committee.