Severe weather alert system to be piloted by council

A new high-speed alert system is to be piloted in Co Cork within weeks which will provide people with specific information about severe weather alerts, road closures, travel delays and water-off or boil water notices in their own areas.

Cork County Council officials have been in talks with a number of service providers in recent months to launch the emergency alerts though electronic media.

The local authority says it has now decided on a six-month trial of the technology with the MapAlerter system.

Council spokesman Tom O’Sullivan said the facility “will be in place in a matter of weeks” and will be piloted in some areas, most notably Clonakilty, which has suffered three floods in the last three months.

The system is designed “to send out text messages and emails as well as engaging in social media to inform people of any service information or restrictions in their areas”.

Mr O’Sullivan said the system has many unique features, “principally the use of sophisticated spatial analysis to determine the subscribers to be included” so as to match them to the area the information relates to.

It is hoped, after testing, the scheme will be rolled out countywide. The service will also be free to those who subscribe.

Five county councils are already using an information alert service.

Brendan Cunningham, managing director of MapAlerter, said the service saves people sifting through irrelevant information.

Users signing up to receive alerts can tailor the service to their needs.

“If you live on a mountain you don’t want to be getting flood alerts so we’re not sending wasted alerts, it’s a focused approach,” Mr Cunningham said.

Cllr Seamus McGrath (FF) said he welcomed the scheme which he maintained would save the council a lot of call-outs by employees.

However, he acknowledged that such alerts wouldn’t reach everybody and they were not a substitute for traditional methods such as newspapers and radio.

County manager Martin Riordan agreed but said the council was “looking actively at embracing” the new technology approach.

“It needs to be piloted carefully. We have a number of areas in mind. It gives you a much closer link to who you want to communicate with,” Mr Riordan added.