NWS says phone equipment malfunctioned during Orlando NOAA radio outage

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The National Weather Service is releasing more information about what caused the NOAA Emergency Radios to go out in the Orlando area on Sunday.

The outage came during a period of heavy rainfall in central Florida.

The NWS said that the outage started at 2:45 a.m. until 9 p.m. Sunday.

Weather officials said that the issue was most likely an error from a piece of Verizon hardware used for the phone line. With the phone line not operating, the NWS signal could not transfer from their Melbourne office to the Orlando transmitter. 

The NWS said that Verizon owns the phone line, but it is serviced by AT&T. Officials said that they called the phone provider every two hours during the outage for an update on the repair, urging for it to be priority because of the severe weather.

AT&T said that their technicians made repairs to the phone line, but the issue was because of another provider.

With the popularity of smart phones, many people have chosen a phone alert alternative, rather than the NOAA Weather Radios. More storms are expected this Winter, and you can take matters into your own hands by searching "WKMG" in your app store, download the News 6 Pinpoint Weather App. The program will give you access to live radar anywhere in the country.

The NWS Orlando transmitter just so happens to sit on top the WKMG News 6 tower. The NWS simply rents this space, the same way other businesses and government agencies do.

Verizon did not immediately respond to News 6's questions about if their equipment malfunctioned.


About the Author:

Troy graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. He has reported on Mexican drug cartel violence on the El Paso/ Juarez border, nuclear testing facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory and severe Winter weather in Michigan.

Recommended Videos