[February 22, 2009]

Rusk County new weather alert system

Feb 22, 2009 (Kilgore News Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- In cases of emergencies and severe weather events, Rusk County residents will now receive warnings via telephone.

The cities of Henderson, Mount Enterprise, New London, Overton, Reklaw and Tatum have instituted the CodeRED Emergency Notification System -- "an ultra high-speed telephone communication service for emergency notifications," said James Pike, Rusk County emergency management coordinator through the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Kilgore residents who live in Rusk County will also be able to utilize the system, Pike said.

CodeRED has two parts: first is the actual CodeRED emergency notification that can be activated by county officials in events such as explosions, boil-water notices, missing children or evacuation notices. These calls are based on landline phone numbers and are automatically listed in the CodeRED system, Pike said.

The second part involves severe weather alerts, for which Rusk County citizens must sign up.

Pike said six county employees were given the password to activate the alerts in the areas where they want calls to go.

"It could be a city block, it could be a one-mile radius or a 10-mile radius," Pike said, explaining that the county and towns within it pooled their money to purchase a block of minutes each year.

Regarding the severe weather warnings, the county pays a separate cost that doesn't affect its prepurchased minutes.

"That's the one everybody has to sign up for," Pike said. "If they want that weather call, severe storm, tornado or flash flood warning, they must use a computer to put in their telephone numbers." Rusk County's CodeRED Web site is http://www.co.rusk.tx.us/ips /cms and users should click on the CodeRED logo to fill out the form. Those without computers are encouraged to ask a friend to help them sign up or use computers located at most area libraries.

Pike said the primary phone number is most likely the identified home phone number. An alternate phone number, such as a mobile phone, can also be entered and both the primary and alternate line will be contacted in the event of an emergency. The system works with cellular phones but requires a street address. When entering information, please fill out all of the screens because the newest data entered will replace the old data.

According to Pike, CodeRED is a geographicalbased system where street addresses are needed to select the telephone numbers that will receive emergency notification calls. Public databases have been used to collect telephone numbers for existing homes and businesses with in Rusk County and have been placed into the CodeRED database.

However, sometimes the public databases contain outdated information, and no one should automatically assume his or her telephone number is included. All individuals and businesses should register, especially if they have an unlisted phone number, have changed their phone number or address within the last year, or they use a cellular phone as their home phone.

The CodeRED Weather Warning will automatically call citizens when severe weather (tornado, flash flood, and severe thunderstorm) warnings are issued by the National Weather Service for your address, Pike said. The CodeRED Weather Warning System calls only when warnings are issued and only if your address is in the path of the storm, but you must sign up to receive the weather warning calls.

He said county and city officials began the project because emergency sirens are costly and not conducive to rural areas.

"Last year we had three tornados, a pipeline explosion and several missing persons," Pike said. "Sirens are good for small to medium sized municipalities, but it's impractical for an entire county, so we looked at how we could do emergency notifications and put a committee together. The committee liked CodeRed best because it also included the weather alert." To see more of the Kilgore News Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kilgorenewsherald.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Kilgore News Herald, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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