In what may be the beginning of a major shift in amateur
radio’s role in emergency communications, amateurs were not called into action
to a significant extent in the early response to Hurricane Harvey as it caused
massive flooding in Texas.
There appeared to be two major factors behind this: 1) emergency management officials deemed conditions too dangerous for people to venture out if they were in safe locations; and
2) most of the region’s normal telecommunications infrastructure – which was hardened after Hurricane Ike in 2008 – remained intact and operational.
At this is written at the end of August, officials were
still in the “response” stage and the ARRL said there might be greater need for
amateur radio resources as activity moved into the “recovery” phase.
