{"id":5500,"date":"2013-10-14T11:39:30","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T16:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=5500"},"modified":"2013-10-14T11:39:30","modified_gmt":"2013-10-14T16:39:30","slug":"emergency-weather-app-alerts-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/5500","title":{"rendered":"Emergency weather app alerts campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tornado\"<\/a>By Emily Domayer–<\/strong>Tornado warnings and watches disrupted weekend plans Friday, Oct. 4.<\/p>\n

Beginning at about 6:00 p.m., Sioux City\u2019s sirens blared, alerting residents to seek shelter from several tornadoes in the area. The storms destroyed homes, injured at least 15 people and caused millions of dollars in property damage across Siouxland.<\/p>\n

Members of the campus community who signed up to receive Morningside\u2019s emergency alert text messages were told to go to the lowest part of the building they were in and to stay away from windows and doors.<\/p>\n

If they haven\u2019t already done so, students, faculty and staff should sign up for emergency text alerts so they can learn how to respond to a situation. To sign up, subscribers should go to the Morningside Portal page, and then click on the \u201cENS\u201d link on the left side of the page.<\/p>\n

The next step is to enter their phone number and check the boxes labeled \u201cweather\u201d, \u201cclosing\u201d and \u201cemergency\u201d to receive all three types of alerts. Approximately 1,200 people have subscribed to the alert system. All emergency messages go to campus email, regardless of whether that person is signed up for the text alerts.<\/p>\n

Brett Lyon, assistant director of security, issues emergency alerts for threatening weather, including tornadoes and blizzards. There are also alerts for campus closings and other emergencies of any kind. Dean Deeds decides if the campus should be closed because of a weather-related emergency.\u00a0The tornado warning was the first alert to be sent this semester.<\/p>\n

Three Alerts<\/strong><\/p>\n

A weather watch alert will tell the campus community to stay alert to changing weather conditions. A weather warning is more specific. A tornado warning advises subscribers to seek cover immediately, since a tornado has been spotted or seen on radar. A closing alert lets people know that the campus is closed and how long it will last.<\/p>\n

Other emergency alerts would give specific information about how to respond appropriately. Examples of other emergencies would include a campus lockdown or a missing person report.<\/p>\n

Morningside does not have one specific location on campus to seek shelter from tornadoes. The appropriate response to a tornado will vary from building to building. Generally, people should try to get to the basement of a building, and stay away from windows. If the building does not have a basement, they should go to a center room and stay as far away as possible from windows and doors.<\/p>\n

Although some people might have a weather app on their smart phone, it will not be campus specific. Also, the Morningside alert system addresses all types of emergencies in addition to weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople may have a weather app on their phone, but it may not send out an alert if they don\u2019t have it set up to do so,\u201d said Lyon.<\/p>\n

Clay Ackerman, a junior vocal music education major, was teaching a guitar lesson with his friend in North Sioux City when the Friday storm hit. \u201cIt was looking bad. We weren\u2019t sure if we should go or stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

He received the text alert, which prompted him to find better shelter because the studio didn\u2019t have a basement. Ackerman and his friend gladly accepted an invitation to wait out the storm in the basement of his employer\u2019s house. The storm was very close because they actually saw the tornado touch down. \u201cWe finally left North Sioux around 8:00,\u201d Ackerman said.<\/p>\n

Lyon would approve of Ackerman\u2019s actions. \u201cThe thing I can’t stress enough is that students need to take their safety seriously.\u00a0 When alerts are given, they should not be ignored.\u00a0 Everyone needs to take every alert seriously and follow the directions sent out in it. \u00a0Things can be replaced; lives can’t be.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emily Domayer–Tornado warnings and watches disrupted weekend plans Friday, Oct. 4. Beginning at about 6:00 p.m., Sioux City\u2019s sirens blared, alerting residents to seek shelter from several tornadoes in the area. The storms destroyed homes, injured at least 15 people and caused millions of dollars in property damage across Siouxland. Members of the campus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5502,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5500\/revisions\/5502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}