HOUSTON – More than 90 days after a fire knocked out the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s or NOAA’s weather radio transmitter in Hitchcock, many Galveston County residents worry they won’t get life-saving information if the power goes out and cell service goes down.
The weather we face can cause damage to our infrastructure, flooding, widespread power outages, and sometimes, people die due to the chaos and damage caused by a storm.
While there are technologies that can help warn us of severe storms on a daily basis, when all else fails, many rely on NOAA’s All Hazards weather radio for their information.
Since power outages and interrupted cell service are common during severe weather, NOAA’s All Hazards radio is included on every severe storm preparation checklist.
“For Ike, we were out almost three weeks without any electricity. No cell phone, nothing. The only thing I had to communicate with the outside world or to hear the outside world was the NOAA Weather Emergency Radio,” Al Clements, Jr. told us.
Clements is a Galveston resident who relied on the radio to learn where the American Red Cross was distributing food.
Kemah resident Cheryl Gonzales said the information given via NOAA’s radio broadcast for Galveston County helped her decide to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Beryl.
“It’s tremendously important,” said Gonzales.
The NOAA signal broadcasting to Galveston County has been down since March, when a fire destroyed the transmitter. When 2 Investigates Robert Arnold began asking questions about restoring the signal, we were told to go to the National Weather Service website, where we found a message stating, “We do not have an estimated time for a service return.”
Now, Houston’s Congressman Randy Weber is asking the same questions. He said his office has received several calls from residents.
“I understand the concern, especially during hurricane season when so many folks rely on radio communication for critical updates. I agree it should be back online,” said Rep. Weber. “I’ve already reached out to NOAA to get specific answers on the situation.”
Those answers are coming soon.
Tyler Douglas, the manager of the NOAA Weather Radio program for the NWS Southern Region, said staff will be inspecting the transmission site on Thursday.
“We will be getting this up and running as soon as possible once our vendor gets a new shelter in place. We are also looking into a new site,” Douglas tells us.
A lack of a specific timeline continues frustrating residents.
“I’ve considered just going over (to the NWS in Dickinson) as a John Q. Citizen and asking, you know, what’s going to happen here?” Gonzales said.
Hitchcock Fire Marshal Darron Ray said the cause of the fire remains “undetermined.” However, Ray said he is positive the fire was not intentionally set.
A report from the Pearland Fire Marshal’s office, which helped with the investigation, reported a certified accelerant detection K-9 was used to check the exterior of the building housing the transmitter and “there was no evidence suggesting the presence of ignitable liquids on exterior of building.” The reporter further noted the interior was not checked by the K-9 due to “safety reasons.”
WHen KPRC 2 visited the site, we saw the damage to the transmitter was extensive.
Ray told KPRC 2 determining the exact cause of the fire would require different expertise, such as a mechanical engineer, given the type of equipment involved. When KPRC 2 asked NOAA if it would try to determine a cause, we were told the team surveying the site would be looking into that as well.
