EMERGENCY ALERTS

Have you signed up yet for Alameda County emergency alerts?  The system is called AC Alert, and it’s very easy to sign up to receive notifications from city and county agencies in the case of an emergency.  Just go to ACalert.org online, and you can sign up to receive notifications by voice message, text message and/or email.

The City of Berkeley previously used an alert system called BENS, but this system is no longer active, and subscribers to BENS are not automatically signed up for AC Alert.

There are other alert systems that have slightly different focuses.  I signed up a while ago for Nixle (used by the Berkeley Police Department), and have received a variety of messages about things like missing persons, road closures, and crime alerts.  To sign up for text message alerts from Nixle, you just text your zip code to 888777.  You can also get email alerts from them by signing up at nixle.com.  UC Berkeley also has an alert system, called WarnMe.

Even if you are signed up for Nixle or WarnMe, though, the City of Berkeley says that you should also sign up for AC Alert, which is the City’s primary emergency notification system.