05/28/2026
UPDATE: The gas has been shut off and no residual gas is in the air. Residents and businesses may return. One lane of Floyd Rd will remain closed; use caution near crews. Piedmont Natural Gas (PNG) customers will receive additional instructions directly from PNG.
Original Post
We are aware that some residents outside the 1/2-mile evacuation area received the Wireless Emergency Alert for the evacuation notification.
After the alert was sent, we contacted FEMA-IPAWS/WEA for review. They advised that there were no errors with the message. In summary, their explanation was that WEA alerts are distributed through cellular networks, and some “overshoot” can occur based on cell tower coverage, phone settings, whether location services are enabled, older devices, and whether a phone supports device-based geo-fencing.
Alerts received well outside the intended area may occur for similar reasons, including “boomer” cell towers that reach phones outside the targeted area, phones with location services disabled, or devices that are not equipped to process device-based geo-fencing.
The evacuation area remains based on the shaded area shown on the attached map: If you are uncertain whether you are in this shaded area then please click on the following link: https://sartopo.com/m/JU2JR1J, search for your address and if you are outside of the shaded evacuation area, there is no need to evacuate.
We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding.
