Hillsborough Giving Away Free Emergency Weather Radios

TAMPA, FL – Staying informed during Florida’s storm season could mean the difference in staying safe. Hillsborough County is doing its best to help people keep abreast of impending severe weather.

As an incentive for residents and visitors to sign up for the HCFL Alert notification System, Hillsborough County will give away an All Hazards Alert Weather Radio Midland WR-100 and a portable emergency kit each month through July 31. The emergency kit features a flashlight, duct tape, batteries and more.

HCFL Alert, Hillsborough County’s official mass notification system, is designed to keep people informed about emergencies and certain non-emergency events. Profiles can be customized to receive voice, text or e-mail messages on the device of the user’s choice.

The three types of notifications HCFL Alert sends out are:

• Emergency alerts: Evacuation or shelter-in-place instructions, hazardous materials incidents, wildfires that threaten homes or buildings, mandatory boil-water notices, severe flooding and other critical public health and safety messages.
• Informational messages: Major road work, closures and detours on county roads, aerial spraying for mosquitos, large-scale precautionary boil-water notices.
• Severe Weather Alerts: Major weather events such as tropical storms, hurricanes, flood and tornado warnings. The information is provided directly by the National Weather Service based on the user’s location information.

Only one winner per household is allowed during the entire length of the contest. Winners will be selected at random and will be notified by telephone and/or e-mail.

Prizes must be claimed at the Hillsborough County Communications & Digital Media Department, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd., 21st Floor, in Tampa.

For more information and to sign up for HCFL Alert, visit http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/index.aspx?NID=3594.

Image via Hillsborough County website

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