Madison County committee shares new weather alert system details

By Randy Pierce • Subsequent to an occurrence earlier this month when a weather alert notification was identified as coming from the office of Madison County Treasurer Mike Babcock, clarification has been offered concerning the implementation of a new system initiated this past week.

Fred Patterson, director of the county’s emergency management agency and a Troy resident, shared details of the circumstances connected with the conversion from CodeRED to a new provider named Everbridge regarding the system used to provide weather alerts to subscribers.

In addressing this matter when speaking to the county board public safety committee, chaired by Terry Eaker of Bethalto, Patterson said that on May 3, Everbridge “sent out a message and used the Madison County treasurer’s number,” leading to responses being received from residents wondering why this was happening.

Patterson explained he had learned Everbridge had put that number into their system, before its actual formal incarnation in Madison County, “as a placeholder in their template” but it has since been changed to the EMA number, which is 618-296-3500. Residents formerly had been notified, through CodeRED, from a phone number with an out-of-state area code.

Admitting he was uncertain about how the May 3 message was shown to originate from Babcock’s office, Patterson said this is being followed up with a concerted effort to educate the public, through such means as social media and the EMA web site, along with a press release sent out last week, about the official number, as indicated in the previous paragraph, used by Everbridge which will show up on caller identification screens when there is a weather alert issued.

There is a possibility that should the need for the announcement of any weather alerts eventuates while the transition process is under way, Patterson said, there may be some redundancy in people receiving notifications from both CodeRED and Everbridge, adding, “I’d rather have that than a failure”  but this was earlier in May and should no longer be a concern now. 

He further commented that on April 27 when a big storm moved into the county, a long duration time frame for a tornado watch was announced. While, in this situation, the National Weather Service did not have the results of this on their “signature radar,” he added, it was set up “partly because of my feedback because these conditions are there that we need to be able to make sure that people are mindful of those conditions before that (an actual NWS announcement).”

The weather service, Patterson continued, will issue such warnings as those resulting from verified tornado sightings and for a severe thunderstorm through wireless communications, it has to have hail the size of a baseball or greater and wind speeds of 85 miles per hour or more but that leaves a gap he said the county EMA is trying to close for lesser magnitude, yet still serious, conditions. 

“I’ve asked them to drop that threshold down,” he pointed out, “so you can actually get the word out with a warning before that threshold,” including EF0 or EF1 (Enhanced Fujita, a scale used to measure intensity) lower-level tornadoes which can do some damage even though not as much as greater ones.

Further remarking that the change from CodeRED to Everbridge resulted from “mistakes that were being made” by the former, Patterson said people will hear “you have an important message from Madison County” followed by the pertinent details. 

“We had to do something,” he told the public safety committee, “because it was broken. CodeRED was not working.”

Residents who were signed up with CodeRED were automatically switched to the new Everbridge platform, but Patterson encouraged all participants to create a new account with the latter in case it needs to be updated in the future and to guarantee inclusion in its notification system.

Everbridge is also utilized by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, St. Clair County (Madison’s neighbor to the immediate south) and other agencies or units of government throughout the state.

While Patterson encouraged residents to also turn to such sources as weather radios, trusted weather apps, television broadcasts and mobile alert mechanisms for vital information, he explained the Everbridge platform will also be used for non-weather alerts such as water boil orders, evacuation notices or other emergency related circumstances.

To sign up for Everbridge emergency alerts, go to https://member.everbridge.net/index/107891189088300?utm_source=chatgpt.com or scan the QR code from the accompanying illustration.