Use Location-Specific Weather Alerts

The ability to notify business owners, residents, and other key stakeholders about severe weather events is vital. An organization that updates affected individuals throughout the lifecycle of a blizzard, power failure, or other critical situation can minimize the event’s impact on its stakeholders and everyday operations.

For example, consider the impact of Winter Storm Hercules, which brought nearly 2 feet of snow to many areas of the United States last week. The storm forced numerous businesses and schools across the country to close. In addition, The Associated Press reported that U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,300 flights nationwide due to the storm.

During a severe weather event like Hercules, how will your organization send evacuation instructions, shelter-in-place notices, and other important updates to affected individuals? In many cases, an organization might rely solely on emails or phone calls to blast out alerts to stakeholders. But just imagine how an emergency notification system that provides location-specific weather alerts would improve communication throughout a severe weather event. With location-specific weather alerts, an organization can notify only those who are directly affected by a storm. As inclement weather approaches, these individuals can learn about a storm, and take the necessary steps to prevent the loss of life and property. Meanwhile, an organization can send updates as the storm progresses, and accelerate its storm recovery efforts as well.

Nassau County, Florida recognizes the value of automated weather alerts. This county implemented an emergency notification system for automated weather alerts to notify residents in affected areas during floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other severe weather events. With this system, Nassau County residents can receive targeted notifications based on criteria like geographic location, and the county ensures that citizens only get notifications that are relevant to them.

Location-specific weather alerts are important for an organization to keep affected individuals up-to-date before, during, and after a severe weather event. The ability to send location-specific weather alerts is valuable for a number of reasons, including:

1. Timely, accurate messages – By leveraging location-specific weather alerts, an organization is able to quickly deliver up-to-the-minute information to affected individuals. Providing critical updates throughout a severe weather event ensures that an organization can consistently deliver important alerts to the right people at the right time.

2. Improved decision-making – An emergency notification system that includes social media monitoring capabilities provides situational intelligence. If an organization can track specific hashtags and keywords on social networks during a severe weather event, it can learn about a storm as it’s happening, and relay critical updates to affected individuals.

3. Automated, targeted notifications – Using an emergency notification system that offers the ability to automatically deliver alerts to contacts and members helps an organization and its constituents. This system allows an organization to streamline its emergency response and send out broadcasts based on the locations of affected individuals, ensuring an organization can protect its stakeholders throughout a severe weather event.

Enhance communication in weather emergencies – use location-specific weather alerts to keep affected individuals informed during severe weather events.