Emergency personnel can now communicate from the Mississippi Gulf Coast to Jackson as part of the ongoing project to install a $221 million statewide emergency radio system in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Almost four years after Katrina slammed the Coast and other areas, Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps, chairman of the 16-member Wireless Communications, says towers are in place in the southern part of the state for the radio system.

Once the system is fully installed, it will provide coverage to 97 percent of the state.

Harrison County Emergency Management Director Rupert Lacy said the U.S. Department of Marine Resources and some Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol units are using the new radio system.