WASHINGTON  -  U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) and Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent today announced a $13,198 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development to the City of Annapolis.  Rural Development funds will be used to install an early warning system to cover the community of 310 residents.

 

“Rural Development funds are important to bolstering public safety in Southern Missouri.  This project will create an early warning system where none exists at this time, giving people in Annapolis the lifesaving time to seek shelter from severe weather and tornadoes,” Emerson said.  “We must work together to protect against the disasters that may strike in rural Missouri.  Early warning systems are one of the best defenses in our arsenal.”

 

"The new early warning system made possible by today's announcement will help safeguard the families and businesses in Annapolis," said Senator Kit Bond. "Rural Development funds are essential to small communities like Annapolis who depend on federal dollars to provide their citizens the most basic and critical services."

 

“I’m pleased the Administration is working with Annapolis city officials to help deliver this early warning alert system for the city’s residents,” said Talent, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “Warning systems are critical to public safety and presently Annapolis has been doing without one. Rural communities should have this equipment to notify their neighbors of approaching severe weather and tornadoes.”

 

The City of Annapolis is in the Mississippi Delta Region and Iron County is a high
unemployment county.