When severe weather hits Cherokee County, the emergency operations center activates.
“January, February is kind of our peak time to get that winter weather precipitation if we get it,” Erika Neldner, the Cherokee County communications director said.
Emergency officials want families to sign up for the counties new weather alert system before the possibility of winter weather hits.
“We had a previous mass notification system, and we have moved to Motorola Rave alert,” Neldner said.
Residents will receive a message straight to their phones.
“We can push some things manually as well. If we have Hazmat situations where evacuations or detours are required to avoid an area we can use rave alert to get that information out to our residents,” Neldner said.
This also allows us to reach those residents to say, ‘Hey, we expect this to come. Please be prepared, check your pipes, make sure you have food,’" she added.
The new alert system went live in late December, but Cherokee County officials need more residents to sign up.
Residents who used the county’s previous mass notification system received an opt-in email to create a new account in rave alert.
You can also text the words Cherokee EMA to 226787 to receive text alerts only, and you’ll get a link to sign up.
The WSB-TV weather app also keeps you weather aware. Simply download it to your phone.
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