DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In Volusia County, officials with emergency management are doing something different to help residents and visitors prepare for an emergency.

They have created a free app where users can get readily available information for disasters, such as floods, excessive heat, hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires. 

Other features include shelter and sandbag locations, a form to report damage and a tab to see active weather.

Volusia County’s Emergency Management director, Clint Mecham, says rolling out this app in the middle of storm season is important for a number of reasons. 

“We try and provide as many avenues as we can to try to get information out to the public,” he said. “So, whether it’s through TV, social media, whatever it might be, this is just another way to bring all of those resources together in one place.”

Daytona Board Store owner Todd Ayres says the app could have helped him when part of his business was destroyed years ago.

“In 2017, we were impacted by a hurricane. It took the top layer of our roof off and peeled it back, but it didn’t do any damage on the inside,” Ayres said. “This is the first time I’ve really seen this app. I think it’s very important to know all these features, especially how to prepare weather wise and everything else. I think it covers everything.”

Volusia County Emergency Management says there have been over 2,300 downloads on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store as of July 31. 

The county also says they’re open to feedback from users as they would like to update the app to have more features in the future.

To find the app on the App Store or Google Play, search for "Volusia Emergency Management."