Dallas County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Toya Stiles announced the availability of a new EMA app at Monday evening’s Dallas County Commission meeting.

Stiles said the Dallas County EMA received a $24,641 grant from Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) to develop the application.

The app can be downloaded for free from the iTunes Store or Android Marketplace.

The app provides users with severe weather updates, the locations and addresses of local storm shelters, road closings, school closings and provides contact information for county representatives.

According to Stiles, the app will also allow users to submit reports of damage to share the news with the rest of the county.

Stiles said the app will be a much easier and more reliable way to keep everyone informed in times of crisis.

“Everyone always has their phone,” Stiles said. “And the [storm] sirens are sometimes unreliable.”

Stiles also gave the commission a report about the current condition of the storm shelters in Dallas County.

According to Stiles, many of the shelters are unclean, have poor ventilation and require a generator be hooked up.

County Attorney John Kelley advised the commission to get an estimate for how much the repairs to the storm shelters would cost and how much it would be to maintain the shelters once they’ve been repaired.

“Storm season is coming up,” said County Commissioner Valerie Reubin, “We need to handle this quickly.”