It’s only a drill: emergency sirens sound today

The Athens-Clarke County Unified Government and the University of Georgia will conduct tests of their emergency alert notification systems on Thursday, September 19 at approximately 10:45 a.m. The notification systems are generally tested twice annually - once each fall and once in conjunction with Severe Weather Awareness Week in February. While the February tests also include testing the community tornado siren system, the September test does not include tornado siren testing.

Emergency alerts are sent by the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government through text and email and are posted throughout the website when there is a severe threat to the public safety and health of the entire community. Emergency alerts are characterized as information on an event that has not been contained or controlled and requires immediate action on the part of the recipient groups, such as in the case of chemical spills impacting public health or tornado warnings.

Athens-Clarke County residents can sign up for e-mail and text message alerts about emergencies and other community alerts through the Notify Me area of the Unified Government's website at www.accgov.com/notifyme or through the Notify Me button located throughout the website. Registration for UGAAlert is available at www.ugaalert.uga.edu and is for UGA students, faculty, and staff.