Nope, the warning system wasn’t installed because the citizens of the community thought it was too expensive
During a news conference early Friday morning, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said he didn’t know why the camps hadn’t been evacuated, but that the county did not have an early warning system or outdoor sirens to alert people to flooding conditions.
“We’ve looked into it before … The public reeled at the cost,” Kelly said.
That refers to the audible sirens. Sirens are outdated technology. The emergency alert system has relied primarily on cell phones for over a decade now.
The relevant criticism in the article is not the lack of sirens, but this:
NWS alerts triggered Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) on enabled mobile devices, but many summer camps do not allow campers to bring mobile devices to camp.
These no-devices policies dont make sense in a world where emergency alerts are delivered via mobile devices.
The staff (or at least the staff leadership) should / could have had cell phones. Whether there was cell coverage is another story.
I’m the emergency manager at my employer, who operates a summer camp (not in Texas, thank fuck). We don’t want our clients bringing devices because of the distraction from programming and potential for Bad Things™ to happen. We don’t want our direct care staff carrying their phones because we want their focus and attention on the clients. We also have a well-developed communications, hazard notification, and emergency plan, however.
Considering the expense and the way they enable spying on users, I don’t think people should be required to own a cell phone or die. Especially children. Sirens or a weather radio make a lot more sense in some situations.
NOAA weather radios. They receive pretty much everywhere people inhabit in the CONUS. go off like alarm clocks when the NWS issues watches / warnings / advisories.
Don’t rely on one layer of notification. That layer will fail in an emergency. Have a backup plan to the backup plan. Hell, even a selected broadcast media in every market is required to rebroadcast NOAA alerts. Turn on the TV or fm radio for background noise when the weather is squiffy. The alert tone will get your attention.
Fortunately, weather radio continues to issue EAS alerts throughout their broadcast area. Weather radios in the cabins would have alerted them.
Of course, WEA alerts are much more narrowly targeted. WEA alerts are for your own specific area, not the ~50 mile radius around the weather radio transmitter. An EAS alert might be for a tornado a hundred miles out and moving away, while you sit under clear, sunny skies.
Regardless, the speed and degree of flooding far exceeded expectations for dangerous storms. There is no evidence they lacked or ignored the warnings that were sent out. Their preparations were simply inadequate, because the flooding so greatly exceeded their expectations.
Nope, the warning system wasn’t installed because the citizens of the community thought it was too expensive
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/national-weather-service-alert-timeline-texas-flooding/3879084/
That refers to the audible sirens. Sirens are outdated technology. The emergency alert system has relied primarily on cell phones for over a decade now.
The relevant criticism in the article is not the lack of sirens, but this:
These no-devices policies dont make sense in a world where emergency alerts are delivered via mobile devices.
The staff (or at least the staff leadership) should / could have had cell phones. Whether there was cell coverage is another story.
I’m the emergency manager at my employer, who operates a summer camp (not in Texas, thank fuck). We don’t want our clients bringing devices because of the distraction from programming and potential for Bad Things™ to happen. We don’t want our direct care staff carrying their phones because we want their focus and attention on the clients. We also have a well-developed communications, hazard notification, and emergency plan, however.
Yeah if the camp had radios, the guy with weather information could give a holler to the people in danger, that could work
Considering the expense and the way they enable spying on users, I don’t think people should be required to own a cell phone or die. Especially children. Sirens or a weather radio make a lot more sense in some situations.
NOAA weather radios. They receive pretty much everywhere people inhabit in the CONUS. go off like alarm clocks when the NWS issues watches / warnings / advisories.
Don’t rely on one layer of notification. That layer will fail in an emergency. Have a backup plan to the backup plan. Hell, even a selected broadcast media in every market is required to rebroadcast NOAA alerts. Turn on the TV or fm radio for background noise when the weather is squiffy. The alert tone will get your attention.
Fortunately, weather radio continues to issue EAS alerts throughout their broadcast area. Weather radios in the cabins would have alerted them.
Of course, WEA alerts are much more narrowly targeted. WEA alerts are for your own specific area, not the ~50 mile radius around the weather radio transmitter. An EAS alert might be for a tornado a hundred miles out and moving away, while you sit under clear, sunny skies.
Regardless, the speed and degree of flooding far exceeded expectations for dangerous storms. There is no evidence they lacked or ignored the warnings that were sent out. Their preparations were simply inadequate, because the flooding so greatly exceeded their expectations.
That’s true, and sad.
Yeah nah that’s stupid
Sorry, but no. There are just too many things that can go wrong with a cell phone, they shouldn’t be the sole source of vital information.