[SEDXC] from Neil, V73NS...once again !

[MAllphin at aol.com]

It seems our ISP is not allowing me to forward the email and link from  Neil, 
V73NS.
So let's try this....
73, Bob-K4UEE
 
 
_http://www.pbase.com/alwayssomewhere/marshall_islands_ 
(http://www.pbase.com/alwayssomewhere/marshall_islands)    See the photos towards the bottom for 
Day 1 and Day 2 damage.  Additional  photos will follow in the days to come.

I strong tropical depression (not  a typhoon) north of the atoll generated 
swells that were 2.5 - 3 meters in  height and when we had our high tide (+1 
meter) on the afternoon of 8 Dec around  0030Z the shore line could not hold back 
the water. Remember, the island of  Roi-Namur sits just 2 meters above sea 
level. 

Typically all surf comes  from the same direction as the trade winds, out of 
the NE. These waves came from  the North and Northwest and that is the worst 
possible direction for them to  come from. The outer edge of the reef protects 
us from the worst of the surf,  causing it to break farther out, but all that 
water still has to go somewhere.  

You'll see a photo of the flooding of the building which the shack was  
located in. This was after the first overtopping event on Day 1. Power was still  
on and it was not safe to attempt to enter the building to rescue gear. I just  
held my breath and waited.
 
Later that night (8 Dec 1200Z) the tide was +1.25 meters and the swell had  
increased to over 4 meters. The shoreline was no match for this and vast  
portions of the island flooded with seawater. The ham shack is one of the lowest  
buildings on the island and is located ~80 meters from the shore. The north  
exterior wall of the building was pushed in by the second event and the level of 
 water rose to over 2 feet. (Bottom of the top desk drawer!) The south walls 
were  pushed out by the force of the water too. The shack does not occupy the 
whole  building, just a space on the south side of it. The shacks northern 
interior  wall held, but at this point that's all moot anyway.

It's  still standing, but not for long. Waters went down today and I was able 
to  recover my station equipment which remained above water. I did lose two 
50Amp  Astron's which were in the rack a foot off the ground. I also lost some 
books,  manuals, cables, spare parts, 500' of RG-58, 500' of RG213 etc which 
were either  in drawers or on the floor of the closet. The gear I recovered 
still needs to be  tested and cleaned up. I don't look forward to the shipping 
cost of 50 Amp  linear power supplies!

The three Collins 30S1 amps all were filled with water to just below the RF  
decks. They are still in the shack and I hope to recover them before the  
building falls. I need help and a forklift to get them to a safe place. It will  
be a lot of work to restore them now. :(

The housing sing area where the  trailers are was hard hit, many off their 
foundations, by the second event  and many will be condemned as a result. The 
amount, and size, of rocks  carried far onto the island from the shore line is 
amazing. The first event  brought many, the second filled the entire area with 
rocks! There are even fish  on the middle of the golf course.

I hope to be operational from my  quarters with my vertical masting in the 
next 2 days. Now is the time to start  making plans to activate from the new 
building but I am sure that will be  several months from now as there is a lot of 
clean up to be done here. The new  site still needs an AC unit installed. 
BTW, the new site is 15 meters from the  shore line. "Are ya feelin' lucky, 
punk?" This whole high surf event is very  very rare here. Some of the workers have 
been here 22 years and never seen  anything like it. Kinda like the perfect 
storm.

I will say one thing, the  beaches have never been so clean - just don't look 
on the island, where all the  plastic, rubber, rope, fishing nets, cans and 
coconit ended up. The island will  take time to recover and there will be a lof 
of brown grass that died from the  saltwater. This is the start of the dry 
season too, so it will look like that  for a while.


Water always wins, that's why there's a Grand  Canyon.

73
Neil
V73NS
ABM3AC
WD8CRT
V63NS
HS0ZIC
YI9NS



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