MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Madison County emergency management officials are working with the National Weather Service to investigate why emergency alert radios failed to sound on Sunday.
After distributing new "AlertFM" receivers to residents countywide earlier this year, the receivers failed to activate during severe storm warnings.
The AlertFM radios were distributed through federal funds as the destruction of chemical weapons from the Blue Grass Army Depot continues in the county.
Madison County's deputy judge executive, Jill Williams, told LEX 18 on Monday that the failure occurred on the end of the National Weather Service. The county and NWS are investigating what happened.
"Madison County EMA's investigation will continue until we are confident that appropriate solutions have been enacted, tested, and proven acceptable for protecting our community," the Madison County Emergency Management Agency wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.
The National Weather Service plans to look more closely at the problem once logs from Sunday become available.
The lack of communication frustrated people in Madison County on Sunday night as hail and wind caused significant damage.
"It does make me nervous because we do rely heavily on the alerts that we have," said Richmond resident Leah McKinney.
Madison County officials ask anyone with property damage from Sunday's storms to contact the Emergency Operations Center at 859-624-4787. Those reports are used to conduct damage assessments that could impact relief funding.
