Five Flags Amateur Radio Association in Escambia County called into action amidst Hurricane Debby

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG) — Five Flags Amateur Radio Association in Escambia County was called in yesterday to help transfer communication services to affected areas from Hurricane Debby.

The association's main purpose is to deliver information to Florida's Emergency Operations Center despite power outages or internet troubles.

"We were the back-up to the back-up if you want to call it that, to the phones and all other normal communication modes that we have established including the internet," said Gene Bannon, Vice President of Five Flags Amateur Radio Association.

Bannon and his team will stay on call for the remainder of Hurricane Debby, despite Escambia County not being directly impacted.

"We were outside the affected area so we were less likely to have any power issues or anything that would cause our communications to be down and we still had to establish communications with the state EOC and other agencies ...