As we kick off preparedness for the 2025 hurricane season, the Walton County Emergency Management (WCEM) department will be conducting their sixth annual TEST of the AlertWalton Emergency Notification System, on Friday, May 30, 2025, at 6:00pm. The drill is designed to test the abilities of the AlertWalton notification system, and in the event of an emergency, residents will receive important information to take action. This exercise helps the public gain a better understanding of the evacuation process and their zone before hurricane season. Throughout the exercise, the public will receive notifications based on their evacuation zones, including zones A, B, C, D, and E. Additionally, residents outside of a evacuation zone will receive notification with helpful preparedness information for the upcoming hurricane season. “Providing strong communication and building a trusting relationship with our community is our department’s priority,” said Jeff Goldberg, Director of Walton County Emergency Management. “Performing this drill on a yearly basis allows our residents to better prepare for future emergencies and helps our staff find ways to improve our practices.”
Messaging for this drill will mimic a real-world evacuation order, informing the contact of their evacuation zone and preparedness resources for this storm season. Those not in an evacuation zone will receive a test message that advises them of hurricane season and where to go for preparedness information. Data used for this exercise will include White Pages, Yellow Pages, and existing Web Registration data in the AlertWalton system. During an actual emergency, in addition to the above databases, 911 data along with the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts will be used.
An After-Action Survey will be live immediately following the exercise for the public to use to provide feedback to WCEM to help improve the AlertWalton Program survey. The survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2025AlertWaltonExercise For more information on AlertWalton or this exercise, please contact Doug Hirsch, AlertWalton Administrator at [email protected].
