The movement of Tropical Storm Erika northward has the southeastern United States on alert. But whether Erika peters out over land or survives and re-groups, peak hurricane season is upon us.
According to the National Hurricane Center, most tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin happen between mid-August and late October.
And now residents in Brunswick County have a new emergency notification system available, launched over the summer, called CodeRED. During sign-up, residents can choose whether to receive messages via phone call, text, or email.
The system, says Public Information Officer Amanda Hutcheson, is only for critical information so residents get the message whether they have access to a news feed or not.
"One of the biggest things is that we can contact you instantly. And we can contact your cell phone. So if there is some kind of emergency situation, if a road is closed due to flooding or ice, if there is a boil water advisory that goes into effect in your neighborhood, and you’re out running errands, say, you can get the notification on your cell phone when we send it out."
Contact information is confidential, says Hutcheson, and will never be shared with or sold to a third party.
New Hanover County has a similar service that’s been in place for years, and officials post information on Facebook and Twitter.
Pender County also offers CodeRED to residents and posts updates on Facebook.
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Emergency Notification information by County:
Brunswick: www.brunswickcountync.gov/codered
New Hanover: https://nhcgov.onthealert.com
