News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County will distribute free weather radios Saturday as the community remembers the 2020 tornado.
County Mayor Randy Porter said pre-programmed weather radios will be distributed Saturday from 10am-2pm at the Putnam County Fairgrounds.
“They sit on your nightstand or somewhere in your bedroom at night,” Porter said. “They wake you up when you’re asleep. And we found out that you can’t depend on just your cell phones or radio or tv to get these. If you’re asleep, you need something that’s going to wake you up. So we’re doing the weather radios in conjunction with all of those other medias, to make sure that you’ve got every opportunity to make sure your family is safe in case we get one of these weather warnings.”
The county received a grant for roughly 2,100 weather radios from the federal government. Radios have already been distributed at the county senior centers. Others going to nursing homes and medical facilities. The radios are already set for the local NOAA weather station.
“All you have to do is put the batteries in and raise the antenna and turn it on,” Porter said. “That was a huge thing. With 2100 of these things to giveaway, we had to have them pre programmed because they’re so slow to manually program. So this way, we just hand them out in the box, and it makes it easy for everyone.”
Porter said he encourages neighbors and families take care of those most in need during Saturday’s drive-thru event. Porter said seniors, shut-ins, or those who may not have the same access to technology need the radios.
“Those are our key primary people that we’re trying to get it out to,” Porter said. “But then everyone we found out with that 2020 tornado, you can’t just depend on cell phones. You need other ways to do that. So with the drive through, we’re going to open it up to everyone, and then we’re working with some of the nursing homes and the hospitals and those kind of folks to make sure that they’ve got plenty.”
The 2020 tornado struck a cell phone tower, leaving many without the emergency notifications. Porter said it opened a lot of eyes nationwide that emergency officials need to reenforce the need for weather radios.
Porter said even today, some in the county lack solid cell phone coverage, making the weather radios critical.
Putnam County residents can simply drive thru Saturday, roll the window down, and get the radio along with an information sheet that answers any questions. Saturday’s event marks a cap to Severe Weather Awareness Week in Tennessee.
“This weekend is going to be the anniversary of the 2020 tornado and so we wanted to try to make this in conjunction with that and Severe Weather Awareness and make sure that everyone is taking this seriously,” Porter said. “Because it can hit in a spur of a moment, and if you’re not prepared, it can be deadly.”
