EMA Urges Residents to Prepare for Severe Weather Season
Residents encouraged to purchase an ALERT FM receiver
Starkville, Mississippi- February12, 2010- As part of Severe Weather Awareness week (February 14-20), Jim Britt, director of the Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency (OEMA), urges residents to begin preparing for severe weather that tends to frequent the county during the months of March, April, and May.
As part of this preparation, residents are encouraged to purchase an ALERT FM receiver. OEMA purchased and began using ALERT FM in 2008 as a means of notifying schools, business, and residents of impending severe weather conditions and emergency instructions. ALERT FM receivers are small, light weight, and easy to program. They can be purchased for less than $40 with no recurring usage fees after purchase from Starkville Computers or www.alertfm.com.
“An ALERT FM Receiver provides a reliable way to get potentially life-saving information from a variety of sources ranging from the National Weather Service to state and local emergency officials,” Jim Lowery, general manager of Global Security Systems, said.
Besides having an ALERT FM receiver, there are other tips that residents need to follow to prepare for severe weather. This includes developing an emergency plan, having a disaster supply kit, practicing drills, and knowing your location in relation to the impending storm.
“Preparing for severe weather is key to surviving big storms that cross our county,” Britt said. “Owning an ALERT FM receiver and following the severe weather preparedness tips could potentially save your life.”
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About ALERT FM
ALERT FM is owned and operated by Global Security Systems, LLC (GSS) of Jackson, Miss. It is a personal alert and messaging system that enables state and local government and private sector officials to create and send emergency information to targeted recipients. Potential information includes severe weather warnings, homeland security notices, hurricane evacuation instructions, utility notices, plant or school closings, employee notifications and traffic alerts. First responders, school officials, citizens, and businesses can receive this information based on geographic or organizational groupings through specially designed ALERT FM receivers or any device equipped with a standard FM chip. ALERT FM has been implemented at the university, state, county and multi-county levels. More than 30 million people in 13 states have access to ALERT FM technology.
Oktibbeha AFM severe weather press release.pdf (68.08 kb)