Hamilton County Emergency Management officials today announced that citizens in Hamilton County can now sign up for emergency alerts via Hamilton Alert, which is part of the Alert Iowa system.

Governor Terry E. Brandstad, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds, and Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Mark Schouten first launched Alert Iowa in October 2014. The system was developed by HSEMD to provide all counties with access to a single, statewide notification system that provides local control of how and when to disseminate emergency and public safety messages to residents. There is no out-of-pocket cost for Iowa counties to use Alert Iowa.

Residents and people working in Hamilton County may go visit the Hamilton Alert Web page via the Hamilton County and City of Webster City web pages and choose the types of alerts they receive, such as severe weather, 9-1-1 outages, or winter storms. Alerts can be sent via landline and wireless phone, text messages, email, FAX, TTY/TDD, and social media. Photo, video, audio and links may be included in the alerts to help recipients better understand the situation or learn where to go to get additional information.

In addition, residents may notify county emergency management officials about any special needs they have to ensure appropriate services be made available to them in times of crisis. These special needs may include if the resident is deaf/hard of hearing, bedridden, blind/visually impaired, or uses a wheelchair or other special medical equipment such as an oxygen machine.

Alert Iowa utilizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System to send imminent emergency and public safety messages through the Emergency Alert System, NOAA Weather Radio and the Wireless Emergency Alerts system. Using IPAWS for state and local alerts will be another method to ensure the most urgent information is delivered to as many Iowans as possible when an emergency is happening and requires the public to take immediate action.

Planning for Alert Iowa began in early 2013 when it was determined that 53 counties were paying nearly $600,000 for their individual notification systems, while 15 used a free system with limited capabilities. Thirty-one counties did not have an emergency notification system, which in many cases was due to a lack of funding. Alert Iowa funding was first appropriated to HSEMD by the Iowa General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor in 2014. Alert Iowa provides emergency notification capability to all 99 counties for half the cost the 53 counties paid for their notification systems. There is no requirement that counties use this system.

Currently, 86 of the state’s 99 counties have signed up to use Alert Iowa.