Oglethorpe County has only one tornado siren, a 1980s model on a pole outside of the Lexington Fire Department. County residents, though, can find out about emergencies through phone notifications.
And now, a new app is coming in early 2027.
Douglas Spencer, head of the Emergency Management Agency, said residents who receive severe weather alerts from the CodeRED app will transition to CivicPlus and its app by February.
CivicPlus performs the same services as CodeRED, and CodeRED users will be automatically signed up for CivicPlus.
Only 1,000 of the more than 16,000 county residents are signed up to receive notifications from CodeRED, 911 director Angela Jackson said. She said the app notifies users through text, phone calls, push notifications and email about road closures from accidents or debris from storms, allowing for residents to bypass traffic and take alternate routes.
“It automatically sends out storm warnings, tornadoes, hurricanes, any kind of warnings, weather-related, even winter storms and whatnot,” Jackson said. “We use it here at 911 if there's an accident in the county, this road is closed or something like that.”
These instant alerts aren’t just for the general public. They also help keep first-responders safe.
“There was actually an accident a couple of days ago or so, Arnoldsville Road at Hargrove Lake Road, and so I was able to immediately put (the alert) out as soon as I saw it pop up,” Jackson said. “It's more safe for (the deputies) with not so much traffic to have to deal with.”
The physical siren will remain an option for the Lexington Volunteer Fire Department to use, but its need for on-site activation makes that unlikely.
control panel of the tornado siren in the Lexington Volunteer Fire
Department. The siren’s electronics were last upgraded in 2003. (SARAH ROPER/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO)
Spencer said in a text that the siren is tested 2-3 times per year to make sure it's in service, but CivicPlus will be able to alert residents remotely and automatically, and reach more residents than the sirens' 1-mile range.
Past options
The Lexington siren wasn’t always the only tornado warning tool in the county.
Crawford and Maxeys had tornado sirens, but chose not to fix them due to cost and growing redundancy.
“There's not a lot of people that are outside close enough that they could hear these and it be effective,” Spencer said.
Instead of relying on sirens or apps, some residents use National Oceanic Atmospheric and Administration radios. Available online and in stores, NOAA radios give weather alerts from local weather radio network towers.
Oglethorpe County is served by the Athens tower and can be accessed at 162.400 MHz. NOAA radios can serve as an alternative to phone weather alerts in the event of power outages and limited phone battery.
“There's a surprising number of people that would (own NOAA radios) again because it's a very agrarian society,” Spencer said. “It's a lot of old family ties. I know my grandparents and my parents had one. I would say there's probably a decent percentage that still have them because they last a very long time.”
Spencer said tornadoes aren’t the top weather issue for Oglethorpe County, as past tornadoes haven’t caused substantial damage.
“It would have to come through one of the towns to really do a lot of noticeable damage,” Spencer said. “We had one several years ago that kind of skipped through Madison County, clipped Oglethorpe, went into Elbert County, but the area that it went through Oglethorpe was not very densely populated, so there was really no cause for concern for it.”
Aftermath a concern
Instead of worrying about what storm is coming through, Spencer said residents are often more concerned about the hazards that follow.
“They were worried about what happens when my power goes out, what happens if the roads are closed,” Spencer said. “We have several places in Oglethorpe County that are fords, dirt roads that go through creeks. There's no bridge, or maybe there's a pipe or something under it. Those get washed out a lot. That's the major concern. Not necessarily knowing that the storm is coming beforehand.”
EMA focuses on keeping residents and local services prepared in case of inclement weather, using services like Facebook to share information from the National Weather Service.
EMA has specific resources on its website about preparedness, using materials from Ready Georgia. The Ready Georgia app featured on the website isn’t in service and can no longer be downloaded, however resources such as the FEMA mobile app provide similar services.
Spencer recommends having a plan for weather emergencies.
“Know what it is that you're personally going to need in your household,” Spencer said. “Every single time we have something come down like this, there's somebody that needs oxygen or pills or this or that or something. Those are the kinds of things that we may not be able to get to you because of 1,000 other things that have happened in the meantime. Just be prepared for that two or three days on your own.”