The Tennessee Valley Authority and Fannin County Emergency Management will test the Blue Ridge Dam emergency warning siren system Saturday, July 18, and will host a public event to hand out weather radios to residents downstream of the dam and to members of the general public.
The sirens are strategically located and would be activated in the very unlikely event of a failure at the Blue Ridge Dam. An alert of a dam emergency would also be broadcast via NOAA weather radio, and approximately 1,200 post cards were recently mailed to downstream residents notifying them of this upcoming radio distribution event.
Those residents can bring their postcard to the Fannin County Emergency Management Agency office and receive a free weather radio.
There will also be a limited number of radios available to members of the general public, and they will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis for as long as supplies last.
In addition to the weather radios, Fannin County EMA personnel will be signing residents up for emergency text alerts through their Hyper-Reach notification system. Anyone who signs up on site will be entered into a drawing for a “go bag” containing emergency supplies.
TVA Dam Safety will share information about public safety for boaters near dams and offer an opportunity to enter drawings for prizes.