October 16, 2014

Enhancements Added to Alert Montgomery Emergency Notification System; Subscribers Should Update Current Accounts



The County's Alert Montgomery system has added new enhancements that will improve the speed, reliability and customization of the alerts subscribers will receive.

To obtain the new enhancements, current subscribers must re-register (update) their Alert Montgomery accounts.  Subscribers have begun receiving emails with a trusted/secure link from Everbridge, the new Alert Montgomery system provider. The link will remain open for 72 hours so subscribers can upgrade to the new system. Current subscribers who do not update their accounts will still receive some emergency alerts but will not have access to any of the new features.

New features include:
  • Selecting alerts as desired for emergencies, weather, traffic, school closings, etc. 
  • Receiving alerts via cell phone, email, text, home land line phone, work phone, or the new Mobile Member app 
  • Choosing to receive alerts for a specific address and for other locations of particular interest 
  • Specifying particular times during the day or night when you would prefer to block incoming notifications 
New notification topics include:
  • Severe weather warnings to include tornado watches/warnings 
  • Traffic disruptions - major collisions, road closures 
  • School emergency notifications - closings 
  • Shelter-in-place and evacuation information 
  • Significant water main breaks and downed power lines and outages 
  • Significant law enforcement or fire rescue incidents impacting the community 

Residents of Takoma Park, Rockville and Gaithersburg should sign up for the cities’ alerting systems through the following links. Some alerts from the County system will automatically be relayed onto the cities' systems. Existing subscribers to any of the systems will receive separate sign-up instructions:
To create a new Alert Montgomery account or learn more about the system go to http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/oemhs/AlertMontgomery/FAQ.html, call 3-1-1 or 240-777-0311, or visit alert.montgomerycountymd.gov.