Columbia County gets new emergency alert system

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF) – Columbia County will soon have a new emergency alert provider.

The county’s public safety, traffic engineering, and water utility departments are transitioning from the Code Red system to Hyper-Reach.

“We had some problems with the previous system and thought it was time,” said Suzie Hughes, deputy director of the EMA.

Hughes said the Hyper-Reach system is customizable and more cost-effective.

“We can send it to a specific address or location and put it on the map if only a specific geographic area is affected,” she said.

Users can enter their addresses and sign up to receive emergency and other calls, text messages and emails.

“Not only are there emergencies and non-emergencies, but there are also weather alerts that are distributed by the National Weather Service,” Hughes said. “And having more than one way to receive these alerts is beneficial for everyone.”

You can send many types of alerts.

“Severe thunderstorm, flood warning, hurricane warning and flash flood warning,” Hughes said. “If there’s a water pipe burst in your neighborhood, you wake up and you don’t get that message. In emergency situations, they don’t have time to notify residents door-to-door or anything like that.”

And you don’t have to worry about your family members not knowing.

“When you go to the sign-up page, you can add more than one phone number to that address,” Hughes said. “So if it’s for you, your spouse or your children or other family members, you can add one number, two numbers, three numbers, four numbers.”

June 15 is the tentative date for the changeover. You can sign up to receive emergency notifications here.