The floods this December knocked out power and communications lines for thousands of people. Thankfully, the Red Cross has a team of ham radio operators who could use their radios to communicate in places where even cell phones wouldn’t work.

Here are two amazing and unusual stories of how ham radio operators saved the day.

Anticipating that telephone lines, cell towers and internet connections in rural communities could be severely impaired, the Red Cross – in collaboration with CERT and other partners – pre-positioned ham radio operators and relied on them to deal with the multitude of storm-related crises… On the evening of Sunday, Dec. 2, alarming weather reports prompted Red Cross volunteer Scott Oerding to pack up his portable ham radio and overnight gear, and head to Tillamook to wait out the storm… Click for the whole story.

Peter was on a fact-finding mission along the lower Columbia River, assessing the status of several communities cut off from communication due to lack of telephone service. One stop along the way? Westport – a tiny town (population: 600-800) temporarily without drinking water. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only water-related threat facing Westport residents…Click for the whole story.