The recent tornadoes and severe thunderstorms that devastated parts of our region have made clear that staying apprised of weather conditions is more important than ever. A new mobile device application that is maintained by Warren County Office of Emergency Services can allow even those who live in areas with subpar cellphone service to stay informed when emergencies occur.
The Ready Warren County NY app allows Office of Emergency Services staff to send emergency-related push notifications to those who have downloaded it, to advise them of emergency situations as well as related events such as water or ice distribution locations during power outages. Nearly 2,000 people have downloaded it since it was unveiled last year, but that is just a small percentage of Warren County residents.
Having the ability to alert residents via push notifications is important in a rural county with poor cellular service in some areas, as push notifications can often get through to phones when texts or cell calls can’t be made or received, or when cellular data is unavailable to access websites. That is important when nearly 90 percent of U.S. adults use smartphones.
“This application is serving as a way for the Office of Emergency Services to quickly connect with Warren County residents and visitors, providing information quickly and efficiently to them through their smartphone,” said Ann Marie Mason, Warren County Emergency Services Director. “We ask residents to download it and enable push notifications so we can make sure that everyone is informed as emergencies occur.”
In addition to Warren County emergency notifications, the app provides:
- Links to numerous emergency services resources, including the OES website.
- Connection to sites to provide information about power outages, weather conditions, wildfire risk and stream levels.
- Interface with Warren County Storm Reporter app to report storm damage.
- Links to preparedness resources, including videos and checklists.
The Ready Warren County application is free, and can be found in the Apple and Google app stores. For a direct link to the Google version, click here. For the Apple version, click here.
Those with questions can contact Warren County OES at 518-761-6240.