Walton County to send alerts Saturday for evacuation zones

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. ( WMBB ) — The start of hurricane season is June 1, and Walton County Emergency Management is getting a head start on preparation.

Saturday is the Know Your Zone exercise.

More than 20,000 accounts connected to the Alert Walton system will receive a text or message on Saturday morning.

The message will let them know what evacuation zone they are in according to the address on file, and give tips for the hurricane season.

“About 50% of all deaths between 2013 and 2023 were related to storm surge. So those are preventable deaths that if those people did evacuate they would have potentially survived. So it’s really important that we stress that water is something that you do not want to mess with, especially during a hurricane,” Catie Feeney, Emergency Operations Coordinator said.

The zones are labeled geographically A-E. If an evacuation is called this hurricane season, the county will evacuate the zones in phases based on the threat.

“We definitely want to make sure that people are prepared and they know what to do, where they’re going to go when they evacuate, whether it’s tens of miles to a friend’s house, whether it’s to a local shelter, or if you’re just planning on going on a vacation, that’s perfect. But have that plan with your family and make sure that those decisions ahead of time so you’re not scrambling last minute,” Feeney said.

Starting June 1, the county will have different campaigns on social media and online to keep residents prepared.

“Weekly we will be giving you guys tips on how you can do one thing either each day or each week to get prepared for hurricane season. Whether that’s having important conversations with your family about your communications plan or your evacuation plan,” Feeney said.

Also starting in June is the annual ‘HERricane’ summer camp.

Empowering and informing young women about hurricane season and jobs in the emergency management industry.

Sign up for Alert Walton here.

Learn more about HERricane camp here.

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