Augusta County is rolling out a new emergency alert system to help keep residents updated in any kind of emergency situation.

Anthony Ramsey, deputy emergency coordinator, said the county has had a program in the past, but they were limited in how they could send out alerts. Ramsey said it had to be done from a computer, but there's no guarantee they would be near one when an alert needed to go out.

He said the new program allows them to send alerts from a smart phone, which is important when time is a factor.

"These weather events that we would use it for or flooding events or anything that time is not on our side, so getting the citizen notified as fast as possible is what we're trying to do."

Ramsey said it will used for emergencies, like weather, or to share any alerts from the sheriff's office that meet call criteria. He said alerts can also be sent out based on location. For example, if an area will be impacted by flooding, they can send an alert to that specific location.

"If we know within a moments notice that we need to do an evacuation, an area, whether it's a dam failure or natural, unplanned, nature event we can send that message to those folks that are downstream."

Ramsey said people can sign up for the service through the link on the county's website. Once they've signed up through the link, there is an app that can be downloaded to a smart phone. People can receive alerts in a variety of ways, including including landline, cell phone, email or text message. There's also options for people with hearing impairments.

If you'd like to sign up for alerts, you can follow this