How reliable are your emergency communication methods? Sara Croke, President, Weather or Not, Inc., Shawnee, Kansas, and member, APWA Emergency Management Think Tank; Harry Weed II, PWLF, Superintendent of Public Works, Village of Rockville Centre, New York, and member, APWA Emergency Management Committee and APWA Emergency Management Think Tank
To text or not to text 2011 was filled with devastating, natural disasters: tornadoes in Tuscaloosa and Joplin, blizzards in the Northeast and Midwest, Hurricane Irene, and a winter storm on October’s full foliage. These devastating storms were only a handful of ways Mother Nature overwhelmed public works’ resources. As first responders, public works professionals are there from start to finish. While issuing warnings to the public may not be the sole responsibility of your public works department, getting the word out before and throughout an event is always a challenging responsibility to many in public works. As 2012 begins, it’s time to review warning communication methods. What are the options? How have they performed in the past? What about new technologies? One thing to consider is that blind reliance on new technologies is never a good idea. There has been a lot of excitement in local government surrounding the use of social media and texting to keep citizens informed and to engage them in community activities. The use of this technology is great in non-critical circumstances. For example, in less than a minute a public works department can send road construction reminders in an effort to ease traffic congestion and angst for commuters. However, when time and action are imperative to a community, social media and texting cannot be relied upon as the sole means governments use to warn their citizens and staff. Nor should this technology be ruled out entirely. Like any emerging technology, there are positives and negatives that should be reviewed objectively.
54 APWA Reporter
January 2012
On May 25, 2011, an F-0 tornado marched through the heart of the Kansas City Metro; an area with a population of approximately two million people. Occurring only three days after the horrific devastation in Joplin, complacency was minimal and many sought shelter. Upon hearing warning sirens and receiving tornado warning alerts, people started texting everyone they knew. Texts about the threat were being sent to children at school, to loved ones, and to friends. At first, the information stream was excellent. Thousands of people learned of the tornado warning through a text message. Then the texts stopped coming. People continued sending messages not realizing that those on the other end would not get the message until well after the threat had ended. The supposed speed lane of the information superhighway hit a traffic jam with messages stuck in what seemed to be in a cyber standstill. Then, just like commuters entering the highway after the “bottleneck,” the messages went flying through to their intended recipients—much later. Those signed
up for the “text alerts” were inundated with warnings and chatter from friends and family all after the fact. Emergency alert senders did their job in getting out timely warning. However, with so many people texting friends and family members, the system quickly clogged and became useless as a reliable warning tool. Those warned early in the event received as much notice as was possible. By the time a secondary funnel developed, the system “overload” was well underway. Some couldn’t even use their cell phones due to the texting and calling frenzy that was occurring. Public works departments in the weather system’s path such as Lee’s Summit, Mo., told of numerous alerts they had received on their cell phones and e-mails after the fact. However, since they had landline contact numbers for their weather service provider, they were able to talk with their meteorologists regarding how the storm was expected to affect them. Fortunately, this incident proved to be minor in its impact. It offered excellent lessons about timely and reliable warning
April Davis operating the Snow Desk for the City of Lee’s Summit, Missouri
