RICHMOND, Ky. (FOX 56) — With bad weather moving in. The timing couldn’t be better for Madison county’s new emergency alert system to be up and running. The alert FM system sends out alerts and warnings using radio signals.

“It is really simple to use, and they’re real compact,” said Jill Williams, deputy executive director of Madison County.

The system’s developers said it doesn’t go down during severe weather. Even if there are power outages, and damaged cellphone towers. The FM alert radios may be small, but they can be a big help in an emergency.

“Much better than the old big black box kind of weather radios that were in homes in the past. Not, every community has the option and the opportunity to have an alert FM sent to them for free,” Williams said.

People living in Madison County have already received information in the mail about the radios the devices will be distributed for free by zones in the next couple of weeks.

“All citizens of Madison County and businesses should receive theirs by the end of March. So, we’re still on track and on schedule at this point,” Williams said.

Don’t worry Williams said you don’t have to be tech-savvy to know how to work the device.

“So it is really easy to silence or clear the alerts once you have notice and alert on them. So if there’s a weather emergency and said that there’s a tornado warning it’s easy to silence that and then take immediate action,” Williams said.

The old devices residents have will work for 90 days after they receive a new one.