K8RRT Wind Damage

 The big wind storm of June 29th left a major impression on many in this area.  Dwight, W8WDT, lost the antennas on his tower and Bart, WT8V, had a huge tree crash into his house causing major damage.  Tim, K8RRT, was at work and learned that his mast pipe bent over in the wind.  Evelyn and I quickly drove to his QTH to try and get a photo before darkness set in.  We noticed that power was out all over Hurricane, Scott Depot and Teays Valley.  It was not until we hit Thompson Road, where K8RRT lives, that we found the power was on.

As you can see in the above photo, his mast bent over at the top of the tower.  He also lost his 60° Flag antenna.  The fiberglass poles supporting the far end fell over and the center support broke as you can see in the next two photos.  Click on any photo to see it larger, then use either your BACK button or close the pop-up window to return to this page.

As of 11:00 p.m., Appalachian Power's web site is showing over 300,000 in SW West Virginia without power.   23,366 are without power in Putnam County, 72,632 in Kanawha County and 38,918 in Cabell County.  I also received one report that power is out in part of Ravenswood up in Jackson County and Parkersburg (in Wood County) got hit really hard with hail and trees being uprooted.  Channel 3 reported that Yaeger airport in Charleston recorded its 2nd highest wind gust - 77 mph.

Evelyn and I are fine, the generator here is working and letting us watch TV and use the Internet.  Cable TV is out but I happen to still have DSL so I'm still on. 

UPDATE:  Here is a cell phone photo of Dwight, W8WDT's antenna damage.  WOW!  What a shame!