Who is going to call you when there's trouble?

As part of local emergency management efforts, several local governments, agencies and schools have notification systems that will alert you via e-mail or text message when something notable is going on in the world. These systems are sometimes called "reverse 911," and are designed to notify people when something is happening that is of interest to them no matter where they are in the world.

Cities and townships

In Ann Arbor, the city uses the CodeRED system for emergency notification. After you sign up, the system is designed to notify up to three phone numbers you designate in the case of an emergency.

Four local agencies use services provided by Nixle for alerting residents of incidents. If you are interested in Pittsfield Township Department of Public Safety, Northfield Township Police Department, the Chelsea Police Department, and the South Lyon Police Department in southwestern Oakland County all use the service for notification.

One nice thing about Nixle is that it keeps a log of previous alert messages, so you can go to the web to see what is in the news stream. Nixle has also been used for non-emergency services, like telling people about a July 29 tour of the Chelsea Police Department to show citizens the building and provide a public forum.

Schools

The University of Michigan's Emergency Alert System is used for mass notifications across campus of major events, like the natural gas leak on North University on June 1. The Department of Public Safety notes that "As a large multi-campus system, we require more than a single mode of notification in an emergency. UM Emergency Alert will add to the array of communication methods DPS uses during campus emergencies, such as DPS crime alerts, regular campus emails and local news media outlets."

Eastern Michigan University has a university-wide emergency text-message alert system, which you can sign up with using an emich.edu e-mail address. The system was built by Rave Wireless, which handles other communications needs for Eastern.

The Ann Arbor Public Schools uses the SchoolMessenger system to send emergency alerts; it keeps parents in the loop with regular testing of the system to also notify them of such things as overdue payments for school lunches. It's a good way to exercise the technology so that you are sure it works regularly.

Ypsilanti Public Schools used its emergency telephone notification procedures to notify parents during a school lockdown in January that ended without incident.

Weather radio

The National Weather Service's NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) is designed so that radio receivers can turn on automatically when an emergency requires it.

"NWR broadcasts warnings and post-event information for all types of hazards: weather (e.g., tornadoes, floods), natural (e.g., earthquakes, forest fires and volcanic activity), technological (e.g., chemical releases, oil spills, nuclear power plant emergencies, etc.), and national emergencies (e.g., terrorist attacks). Working with other Federal agencies and the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Alert System (EAS), NWR is an all-hazards radio network, making it the most comprehensive weather and emergency information available to the public."

You can get details about weather radio in the Detroit area and receiver information from the National Weather Service, and there is an online relay of the Detroit feed through Weather Underground.

River alerts

The U.S. Geological Survey runs a Water Alert system that can notify you of high water or low water on a river via e-mail. I have the Huron River set to notify me when it reaches the 14-foot level, just enough under action stage that one big rainstorm or a minor dam glitch will increase a risk of flooding. If you need ad hoc river levels, the StreaMail service lets you query the level of any river; there may be a five minute delay in response, and the disclaimer notes that it is "not meant to be used in emergency situations."

Emergency planning

At the county level, a relevant board with public meetings is the Local Emergency Planning Committee. The last available meeting minutes for the LEPC are from September 2009, and they detail county responses to a variety of environmental hazards including chemical spills and poor decisions about how to dispose of cleaning materials.

I have asked the county's emergency management department for more recent meeting minutes, since there have been two meetings held since then with unpublished minutes.

The City of Ann Arbor's Office of Emergency Management web page instructs you to "Stay Tuned To Your Local Ann Arbor Cable TV Channel (CTN), And Read The Ann Arbor News And Observer For Additional Updates, Information, And Upcoming Public Meetings." The Ann Arbor News closed in July 2009.

The City of Ann Arbor's Local Emergency Planning Committee page reads:

"This Page Is Currently Under Construction. Please bear with us until this project is complete."

Planning ahead

The best thing about planning for emergencies is that you never are done with the task.

Edward Vielmetti writes for AnnArbor.com. Contact him at edwardvielmetti@annarbor.com.