Randy Long W0AVV, D-10 Emergency Coordinator, gives the following brief summary of the Loveland and Fort Collins flood event response.

At 0600 (all times local) on Fri-Apr-30-1999, a call came in from the Centennial Red Cross. The request was for communications for sheltering due to the Big Thompson River flooding the trailer park near the Loveland fairgrounds. A general call for operators went out over the 145.115 repeater for operators. By 0808 there were operators responding. Meanwhile Clyde Glass N0CG took the job of dayshift net control taking check-ins and beginning the scheduling for the next shifts. Administrative activities continued on 145.115 and operations for the sheltering effort moved over to the Loveland 147.195 repeater repeater.

A shelter was established in Loveland's Thompson Valley High School. Two operators were assigned. And two were assigned to the Red Cross Chapter House in Fort Collins and one to the Red Cross ERV. Three operators responded and performed cursory damage assessment for the Red Cross.

In early afternoon, we were advised that another shelter was being opened in north Fort Collins in the Lincoln Junior High School. A team of communicators were recruited and sent to that location.

At about 1500 there was a shift change and we put on a whole new crew. Mike Hickerson KE2RP took over as net control.

There were additional stations scheduled to go on duty at 2300. But at 2230 hours we were advised that a decision to close the shelters had been made by the Office Of Emergency Management in Fort Collins and in Loveland. The operation was secured and all stations released.

We had support from Brian Gould KB0MEP on the weather side of things. He was online gathering information about the storms and road closures and feeding that information to the Net Controls. Ted Cline N0RQV was making the rounds filling in the gaps where equipment or special needs existed, as did Richard Walters K0RAW. Thank you ARES D-10 for your support and participation. You are the ones who make it happen so well. Too many folks to thank, and we hope we did not miss anyone. You are all appreciated.

A special thanks to all of those who participated, which included: KC0BYY, N0CG, KC0DSJ, KK5EK, KC0FOJ, W0FZC, K0JEF, K0KIP, KB0MEP, KB0PJG, K0RAW, N0RC, KE2RP, N0RQV, WB0UWE, KB0VZI, KB0WEB, KB0WWA, KB0YDP, and KB0YJV.