The flooding in Texas this week, wildfires in Canada and record-breaking heat in New England are reminders that the supercharged climate means disaster can strike anywhere at any time. It also means that interest in weather alerts and emergency preparation, once limited to places like Tornado Alley, are entering the New Hampshire mainstream.
If you’re new to the idea, here are some tips:
NH Alerts is the state government’s official emergency notification system. It enables public safety officials to deliver emergency and non-emergency notifications through phone calls, text messages and emails.
Sign up online at ReadyNH.gov and choose how to receive alerts. If you don’t want to create an account, a cellphone app from Genasys Protect, the company that operates NH Alerts, includes a map view and location-based notifications to give broadcasted alerts relevant to your area.
NH Alerts includes a lot of information about everything from cybersecurity to hazardous material handling to nuclear power plant safety, as well as the weather emergency residents are used to dealing with, winter storms.
Almost all of these categories include one piece of advice: Plan ahead. Once an emergency is happening it’s too late to decide how to react.
This includes creating a family plan with a list of emergency contacts and an emergency kit in case you have to stay at home for a few days due to weather or other emergencies. NH Alerts includes links to forms that can help create these plans and kits.
NH Alerts is also used by many municipalities to send alerts about public safety incidents and missing persons as well as weather alerts.
The National Weather Service has long operated wireless weather alerts that can be accessed through most weather apps on cellphones.
A key point is that you must have “location services” function turned on since the alerts are geographically targeted. If you turn off that function to keep advertisers from tracking you, the NWS alerts won’t work.
The NWS also has a number of what it calls Active Alerts through its Weather.gov website. These include alerts about flooding, which has been the biggest weather emergency in northern New England in recent years, as well as fire, drought, tsunamis and even UV exposure warnings when high levels of ultraviolet light can contribute to skin cancer.
It’s not clear whether this service will be affected by the Trump Administration’s layoffs of National Weather Service personnel.
Residents who are truly concerned should consider buying a NOAA weather radio
These receivers broadcast constant weather alerts 24 hours per day from the National Weather Service over a band of radio frequencies used for public service. They work off local towers so alerts stay relatively focused.
Many companies make such radios with battery backup and sometimes with a crank to keep the radio operating when no power is available. A quick tour of Concord-area stores couldn’t find any in stock here but they can be ordered online or through major retailers.
