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Weather warnings, are now just a text away
HARTINGTON — Cedar County residents will soon have a quicker way to learn about area emergencies.
In November, Cedar County Commissioners agreed to allow Cedar County Emergency Management Director Kevin Garvin to pursue a mass communication system.
Garvin announced this week that Hyper-Reach has been chosen to help protect lives and property here.
Hyper-Reach is a state-of-the-art mass emergency notification system designed specifically for public safety.
The county expects to have the service fully operational by the end of June.
The new emergency alert system will provide rapid notification of hazardous and urgent situations using a mix of telephone calls, text and email messages, and even TTY/TDD service for the hearing impaired.
The system sends thousands of these messages to geographically targeted households in seconds and can simultaneously deliver them to an even broader audience via social media, Alexa-enabled smart speakers, browser notifications as well as sending broadcast messages to most current mobile telephones in an affected area by providing access to FEMA’s Wireless Emergency Alert system, Garvin said.
“Our job is to protect the citizens of Cedar County as effectively and cost-efficiently as possible.” said Garvin. “We reviewed all the major vendors for emergency notification service, and Hyper- Reach gave us everything we needed at a cost-effective price. We’re excited about this new capability.”
He said the county plans to use the service primarily for alerts about weather and environmental hazards, criminal activity, and missing persons.
Landline phones are automatically enrolled for Community alerts, but Weather alerts to landline phones and Community and Weather alerts to VoIP phones, mobile phones, and email addresses are only included when people enroll.
Residents and people who work in Cedar County are encouraged to enroll now either by calling or texting “Alert” to 402 256-6633 or by going to the website: http:// hyper-reach. com/necedarsignup. html Residents can get emergency alerts via their Alexa-enabled smart speakers just by saying “Alexa, enable Hyper-Reach” and following the Alexa- provided instructions. With more than 70 million US households using Alexa devices, there are hundreds or thousands of County residents with Alexa units.
Residents can also download the Hyper-Reach Anywhere app on their smartphones. Hyper-Reach Anywhere is a free smartphone app that allows individual residents to manage and monitor the alerts they receive, both for their home, office, and other addresses they care about, such as those of elderly relatives or friends.
In November, Garvin provided a detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of four different service providers, ultimately narrowing it to recommend Hyper-Reach. Hyper-Reach, based in Rochester, N.Y.
While it wasn’t the cheapest provider option, Garvin and the commissioners liked that there was no limit to the number of messages sent through the Hyper-Reach system.
The company also provides assistance with implementation and marketing.
Along with natural disasters, the county could use the notification system to alert the public about roads being closed or law enforcement issues, but policies and procedures would need to be determined.
