I served at a couple of shelters during hurricanes. I am a ham radio operator and the local ham club supplies qualified operators for communication.
One of the hurricanes I went through all the officials were walking around with their newly acquired government supplies cell phones. Convinced that there would never again have a need for the ham radio operators. That time all the cell towers went down so no cell service in the county.
Funny thing was at one shelter the pay phone just outside the front door worked throughout the storm and were able to call in to the emergency center. Don't assume your cell phone will work.
The folks who are staying at the shelter want one thing above all else, to know what is going on. The last time I served was before digital broadcast tv so the the antenna was very simple to construct which I did. I connected it to the tv located in the school cafeteria and we were able to get 2 tv stations. I told one of the mom's that they, the moms, were in charge of the tv. Soon after watching the progress of the storm they all seems to calm down and relax. At least they know what was happening.
In addition to the ham radio operator there was the shelter director, a psychiatric nurse, a food service employee and a janitor. This is interesting the only unpaid positions was the shelter director(Red Cross volunteer) and myself, the ham radio operator. Hams are by law not allowed to accept any pay for services you provide.
I hope for those who have not been in a shelter for a hurricane might want to hear my thoughts on being there. 73, Mike
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