FLOYD EMA LAUNCHES EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM

Floyd County residents may register phone numbers with County addresses to receive weather alerts from the National Weather Service.

Rome, Ga. – Floyd County has contracted with Emergency Communications Network, Inc., of Ormond Beach, Florida, for its "CodeRED" high-speed telephone emergency notification services. The CodeRED system will deliver pre-recorded Emergency Notification Weather Warning messages to targeted areas or the entire County at a rate of up to 60,000 calls per hour. Weather Warning notifications will be delivered for severe thunderstorms, tornado and flash flood warnings. These alerts are generated from the National Weather Service. Anytime a weather alert is issued in your area of the county or for the entire county you will receive a call from CodeRED weather alert.

Scotty Hancock, Floyd County’s Emergency Management Director, cautioned that such systems are only as good as the telephone database supporting them. "If your phone number is not in the database, you will not be called". Please log onto the Floyd County website and enter your contact info to be assured that you will be part of the Emergency Weather Warning system. CodeRED not only offers faster calling rates and improved message delivery, it gives individuals and businesses the ability to add their own phone numbers directly to the system's telephone database. Emergency Management emphasizes that this is an extremely important feature to mitigate the loss of life or property.

To ensure no one is omitted, Floyd County urges all individuals and businesses to log onto the County website, www.floydcountyga.org and follow the link to the "CodeRED Residential and Business Data Collection" page. Those without Internet access may call Floyd County non-emergency number (706.236.5002), Monday through Friday, (8AM-5PM) to give their information over the phone. If no one answers please leave a voice message with the required information which includes first and last name, street address (physical address, no P.O. boxes), city, state, zip code, and primary phone number, additional phone numbers (optional). Your information will be submitted as soon as possible.

No one should automatically assume his or her phone number is included, Hancock said. All businesses should register, as well as all individuals who have unlisted phone numbers, who have changed their phone number or address within the last year, and who use a cellular phone as their primary home phone. Hancock also states, "You can only input two numbers per login but you can log back in and place as many numbers as you wish per address as long as the address is within Floyd County."

Mr. Hancock explained that the "CodeRED system is a geographical based notification system, which means street addresses are needed to select which phone numbers will receive emergency notification calls in any given situation. The system works fine for cell phones too, but we have to have a street address". Please remember if you move but kept the same listed or unlisted phone number you will need to change your address in the database.

Mr. Hancock stated, "CodeRED gives those who want to be included an easy and secure method for doing so. The information will only be used for emergency weather warning notification purposes". Questions should be directed to Floyd County’s Emergency Management Office, 706.236.5002.