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The Chambers County Commission approved bridge funding for the Chambers County EMA Emergency Alerts Outreach project during its first meeting of 2024. 

EMA Deputy Director Kathy Hornsby requested funding for the initial purchase which will be later reimbursed to the county through a grant. 

The grant will cover 2,345 radios, 150 bed shakers and strobe lights designed to alert residents with vision and hearing impairments of impending weather emergencies. 

Hornsby said the bed shakers are placed under the pillow so that people with hearing or visual impairments are alerted to an emergency. 

The grant is specifically for the purchase of emergency alert systems for senior citizens, individuals with hearing or vision impairments, and individuals who meet low-income requirements. 

Hornsby said Chambers County EMA has sought the FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program since 2021. The program awards grants to areas to help mitigate the effects of natural disaster losses. The approved funding is $65,821.75. 

The radios will be distributed to senior citizens and individuals in low-income circumstances in Lanett, Valley and LaFayette. 

Hornsby said it has been one of her goals to distribute weather alerts to individuals in need and in assisted living. She said she hopes to have the radios distributed by mid-February or early March.