ARRL South Florida Section Emergency Coordinator Barry Porter, KB1PA, announced that the Palm Beach County ARES meeting scheduled for September 13 has been cancelled.

“Over 50% of homes in the county are without power, shelters are still open, and roads are unsafe to drive on,” he told ARRL.

Porter also reported that the out-of-state centers that are backing up Florida 211 are starting to get a lot of calls where a poor cell connection eventually just drops out.

“Please inform people that they should text ‘Irma’ to 898-211 for information,” he requested. “We’ve got folks all across the country staffing that text platform.”