ARKANSAS (KFSM) -- One local company aims to keep Arkansans safe by offering advertising billboards to be used during tornado warnings.
This week, just in time for severe weather threats, Ashby Street Outdoor Advertising created a system which allows a tornado warning from the National Weather Service to be broadcasted across all their electronic signs in that area.
These tornado warning messages run uninterrupted until the warning ends.
This system was used Tuesday (April 30) in certain areas. The company said the new alert system went into effect and was displayed on 33 digital billboards in the Northwest Arkansas area alerting drivers of the potential danger.
The CEO for Ashby Street Outdoor Advertising, Jim Matalone, said these billboards are seen by nearly 100,000 people daily.
"Drivers nowadays don't listen to radio anymore or not as much and hopefully not looking at their phone so if you are thinking about it you might not be aware you might not know there is a tornado warning," Matalone said. "It was a need we felt like we were able to fill."