NOAA Weather Radio service in Shreveport is currently down, with strong storms heading to the area tonight.

Aaron Stevens, Meteorologist with The National Weather Service in Shreveport tells KEEL News that the issues are tied to phone lines that are connected to WXJ97, and that the issue could potentially cost lives if not corrected.

 

The NOAA Weather Radios are devices that will activate in severe weather situations. Stevens says the issues tonight are that the storms are likely to arrive in the Shreveport area after dark, and those who own NOAA Weather Radios may be relying on the devices to wake people up if a dangerous storm is coming. Without the service from WXJ97, those devices will not activate.

The system servicing WXJ97 has been down for three days, and Stevens says they have contacted both companies responsible for the lines causing the outage, AT&T and Verizon, and have escalated this to their highest priority, but the system is still down.

Other systems for warning and watches from the National Weather Service are STILL active, including the alerts that will be sent to mobile devices, and heard on local radio stations like KEEL. This outage only impacts NOAA Weather Radio devices.

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