Hurricane Maria – Dominica Reports from Ham Radio Operators

Ham radio operators have given the following information gathered from various ham radio operators on Dominica.

Hurricane Maria Ham Operators:

Note: If author states that there is no further information from any specific operator, this doesn’t mean that the operator is not alive. It only means that the author has not managed to gather further information on their status.

1. Elliott Taylor, England, United Kingdom (spoke with several ham operators in Dominica).
2. TDN Q95FM Radio
3. Kerry Fevrier, J69YH, in Roseau, Dominica
4. J73CI, location Unclear – operator lost his roof, author has gathered no further information gathered on him, doesn’t indicate that he hasn’t continued to communicate.
5. J73WA, Northern End of Dominica, exact location Unclear – J73WA lost his tower and was uncertain how he was going to weather the back end of the storm, no further information on his status
6. J73MH, exact location Unclear – J73MH lost his roof and was “just hunkering down and hoping for the best’, no further information.

SOURCE: Elliott Taylor (Ham Operator, England) – https://www.facebook.com/west.pals

• DBS RADIO:- DBS went off air at around 3:10am UK time when the roof came off the studio building. Before DBS went off air last night what I heard from phoned-in reports was that the eye hit.-
• HIGH CANEFIELD:- A caller stated all roofs gone in High Canefield. This was a few hours before the hurricane impacted fully. – Dominica between Petit Soufriere and Marigot with the centre hitting La Plaine and Rosalie.-
• BELLEVUE:- badly hit with reports of a building collapse.
• MAHAUT:- 95% of roofs gone-
• COPTHALL:- 95% of roofs gone-
• DELICES:- Severe flooding in Delices-
• ROSEAU:- Severe flooding in Roseau. The roof of the hospital came off and the generators were seen to fail.

SOURCE: Kerry Fevrier, J69YH, in Roseau, Dominica.  – “Trees down, river has flooded half the village, cars are all over, most houses have lost their roofs or are destroyed, the area between his house and the church is just flattened…in his words, ‘devastation is total,’”

RADIO STATIONS

1. DBS RADIO – DBS went off air at around 3:10am UK time when the roof came off the studio building. As of September 20, still offline.
2. Wice QFM 95.1 Radio – (Online and taking calls from concerned persons to source information on family members and loved ones).

SUMMARY OF DAMAGE REPORTS BY TOWN OR VILLAGE

BATH ESTATE

• Collecting information

BELLEVUE

• Badly hit with reports of a building collapse.

CALIBISHIE

• Significant roof damage;
• some roofs lost completely
• no apparent deaths

CANEFIELD:

• All roofs that were not concrete are gone.

COCHRANE

• Took a lot of damage; no specifics
• No fatalities

COPTHALL:

• 95% of roofs gone

COULIBISTRIE

• Severe infrastructural damage

DELICES:

• Severe flooding
• most structures destroyed, up to 90%

GOOD HOPE

• Collecting information

GOODWILL

• looting and gunshots in the area
• residents have no radios therefore no access to information

GRAND FOND

• Collecting information

HIGH CANEFIELD

• All roofs gone a few hours before the hurricane impacted fully.

KALINAGO TERRITORY

• No fatalities, collecting more information

LA PLAINE

• Some buildings thrown off their foundations completely
• significant damage
• one bridge destroyed; others intact
• Container bridge is intact
• (collecting more information)

LOUBIERRE

• collecting information

MAHAUT:

• 95% of roofs gone
• 2 fatalities

MARIGOT:

• 1 death

PETIT SOUFRIERE

PORTSMOUTH – via‏ Q95 / @ecdWeather on Twitter, ca. 6PM Sept. 19, 2017:

• Q95 reported heavy damage to Portsmouth
• no word on Ross [University] damage
• 90% roof damage in Portsmouth
• Streets not passable
• Comm down on island
• 5 persons drowned via river/4 missing, one body found; confirmed by police over ham radio.

ROSEAU:

• Most of the roads are blocked
• Severe flooding
• Trees down
• River flooded half the village
• Cars are all over
• most houses have lost their roofs or are destroyed
• The roof of the hospital came off and the generators were seen to fail.

SAN SAUVIERRE

HURRICANE MARIA LANDFALL NOTES

By ham reports, the center of Hurricane Maria hit Dominica between Petit Soufriere and Marigot with the centre hitting La Plaine and Rosalie. (This information is a bit confusing but by storm tracker mapping reports, the exact center of the eye hit at Petit Soufriere; with 5 miles north landing at Castle Bruce and 5 miles south landing at La Plaine.