When severe

weather threatens Fayette County, residents in vulnerable areas will know

when to take shelter, thanks to an early warning weather system and a

voice that can be heard up to one and a half miles away.

The system

is activated only when a severe weather warning is issued. Once the system

is activated, residents should move toward the center of their homes and

go to the lowest part of the structures, said Capt. Pete Nelms of the

Fayette County Emergency Management Agency.

"The system

will only be activated when severe weather is expected." Nelms said.

"That's our whole goal early warning for as many people as possible

in areas where the risks are higher."

The Fayette

County Emergency 911 center uses information from the National Weather

Service in Peachtree City to determine when to sound the alarm, Nelms

added.

A federal grant

paid 75 percent of the cost with the county picking up 25 percent, but

there wasn't enough money to get enough alarms to cover the entire county,

Nelms said.

Instead, the

towers are placed in areas near a large number of residents who face increased

risks of injury due to severe weather.

"This

is something we hope to expand in the future," Nelms said. "We

wanted to put them in areas where a lot of people were very vulnerable

to severe weather."

The alarms

cover several manufactured home communities in the county, including Landmark

Manufactured Housing Community, Fayette Mobile Home Park, Long's Mobile

Home Park, Four Seasons Mobile Home Park and Shiloh Mobile Home Park.

The system was first put into operation in February, just before Severe

Weather Awareness Week.

Although Fayette

County hasn't seen many tornados in the immediate past, the area is at

a heightened risk for severe thunderstorms with lightning that strikes

homes and businesses with the potential to start structure fires, Nelms

said. Also, microbursts are a danger, such as the one that damaged downtown

Fayetteville several years ago and ripped the roof off a Fayetteville

pharmacy, he added.

The weather

warning system can also be used as a public address system to send out

special messages if needed, Nelms added. It's also compatible with the

county's current radio system, he added.

Assistance

from the National Weather Service has been crucial in getting the system

up and running, Nelms said.

Another grant

also was secured recently that provided NOAA emergency warning weather

radios to large public buildings such as public and private schools in

the county, Nelms said. Those radios are a good investment for anyone

to keep at home because they sound an alarm when severe weather threatens

the area, he said.

"You can

program them to only sound off for the Fayette County area, too, instead

of getting all the warnings," Nelms said. "We encourage everyone

to purchase a weather radio."

Also as part

of severe weather awareness week, the Fayette County Department of Fire

and Emergency Services worked with local schools as they ran their tornado

and severe weather drills.

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