MADISON, Wis. (CIVIC MEDIA) – A local is in Florida preparing now to help with hurricane Milton relief, and he’s brought crucial communication tools with him.

A Wisconsinite hit the road ahead of Milton’s landfall and made his way to Tampa, Florida. He’s there now helping with a unique and essential need… communication. As cell phone coverage goes out, it can be days to even a week before your family or loved ones even know if you are dead or alive.

“What I’m offering is communications to talk to the outside world.”

Dan Vanevenhoven is a volunteer with Amateur Radio Emergency Services, he lives in the Fox Valley area and a former Tampa Bay area resident.

“They call for volunteers. It’s not a case of you have to go. I call them up and say hey I’m going.”

He’s been doing this for nearly 40 years now.

“I’m taking vacation time , so we are making it work.”

He’s been through major hurricanes before, including Katrina and most recently Helene.

“North Carolina… OH MY GOD that was like Katrina, all over again. In fact, in some cases… worse.”

Which is why his help is so significant in these situations.

“When I got up to Asheville we went over to this town that basically did not exist. Houses were in the river and also human bodies floating in the river.”

What he does is set up a hop, which can send a text message when all cell service is out.

“It’s called health and welfare. Say your phone doesn’t work and you have relatives out in San Diego. You want to get a hold of them and tell them you’re ok. But no way to get a hold of them, that’s where we come in.”

The signal is sent straight up and then scattered over a wide region around the transmitting station.

“It’s very rewarding, it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to get the message to send.”

He’s currently stationed wherever he’s needed the most.

“Took a helicopter ride to get a perspective because there were people needing communications and I was like, is there a path for me to get there?”

Right smack dab in the center of the hardest hit areas.

“Wherever I’m needed, that’s where I’ll be. We try to stay safe, it is what it is.”

Since he’s lived there he explained how Florida’s sand becomes solid when saturated. So flooding happens faster compared to the black dirt as we know it.

“We’d get a real good downpour and I’d have puddles all over the yard. I had grass in my yard because of course I’m from this area. So I put down black dirt and tried to grow grass and when it down poured it would fill up like a swimming pool with water all over the place.”

Up to a foot of rain is expected in areas like Clearwater and Tampa.

The water table is just a few feet below the surface in Florida.

“My cottage up north they dug a 400 foot well! For example when Diana came through, we knew there was going to be issues because they told us to fill up our bathtubs with fresh water. That’s going to be your drinking water, your cooking water and everything else.”

If you’re like me and wondering just how long he’ll be down there helping…

“Once the cell service is in place then you are good to go.”

And his family says, aren’t you getting a little too old for this…

“No, not really.”

As we wait for the eye to make landfall and the surge to rush in, tornadoes have been tearing through the state already this afternoon.

If you want to help those hurt by hurricanes, both Helene and Milton, every donation matters.

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