Powhatan County tower collapse

[BoxAlarm187]

During a brief, but very strong storm that moved through Powhatan's eastern half yesterday afternoon, a guyed 250' tower that held one of the county's three public safety TX/RX sites (along with several wireless carriers) collapsed into a ugly, twisted pile of steel.

Based on the decloration of a local state of emergency, a temporary tower has been requested through channels until a permanent solution can be determined.

Mobile radios in the eastern end of Powhatan will still reach the communications center without a problem, however, handheld radios are providing only line-of-sight communications.

In related news, the County's Board of Supervisors have recently approved funds for the installation of two additional repeaters for public safety. One of these will be located in Chesterfield County near Midlothian Turnpike & Route 288 (Watkins Center), and the other will be off Route 522 south of the James River. The Watkins Center site will provide far better in-building coverage in eastern Powhatan and within the hospitals that EMS routinely transports to in Chesterfield.

The County's Emergency Management department is moving forward with these projects as quickly as possible, however, no precise timeframe has been determined.

 

[MOTORHEAD3902]

I was fearing that something had happened to MY equipment this morning when I heard how positively bad Powhatan was sounding. They are usually S9 in Prince George into my reciever, but this morning they are verra weak. I see why.

Thanks for the heads up, Taylor.

 

[KG4INW]

Wow, I was working in eastern Powhatan yesterday afternoon (completely unrelated to the tower but not far from it) but got out before the storms. We got hardly anything though here in south Midlothian.

 

[Stick0413]

powhatan tower damaged by storm; communications tower falls during storm - wtvr

CBS 6 has a story on it now.

 

[BoxAlarm187]

Tower update: a temporary tower owned by the state has been placed at the site at an approximate antenna height of 50' AGL. We hope to have a replacement tower in place within 8 weeks, and the Watkins Center project is being given a much higher priority at this time.