MADILL, Okla. -- Marshall County Emergency Management is getting a new wireless notification system.
Residents will soon be able to sign up for phone alerts about anything going on in their neighborhood -- from crimes to weather. Those alerts from the Hyper-Reach Emergency Notification Service can target a single household or the entire county.
"We could notify those people over in that area to say, 'You need to start preparing to evacuate; you need to start preparing to protect your property,' and all those kinds of things to let them know without bothering everybody within Marshall County," explained emergency management director Robert Chaney.
"With the emergency management system set up like that, I think getting that knowledge out there to the public is fantastic," said Ed Matthews, who manages the Bridgeview Resort in Madill, which is currently dealing with the rising waters of Lake Texoma.
"It's affected our campgrounds, our fishing area, our boat ramps... in essence, we're really just shut down," he said.
The new notification system is expected to be operational by the end of the year. Chaney said it's an important new tool that citizens can add to their emergency arsenal of smoke alarms, weather radios and storm cellars.