How to Sign Up for Emergency Text Alerts in Your County

Every county in the United States runs an official emergency alert system that can text, call, or email you when an evacuation order, severe storm, water-main break, missing-person alert, or other urgent situation affects your address. The catch is that most of these systems do not enroll you automatically. You have to sign up. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reports that fewer than 40 percent of Americans are signed up for their county's alerts, which is one of the biggest gaps in personal emergency preparedness. For seniors, those alerts can mean an extra hour to evacuate ahead of a wildfire, a warning to boil tap water during a contamination event, or a notice to stay inside during a hazardous chemical release.

There is a separate system called Wireless Emergency Alerts, often called WEA, that does come automatically to most cell phones. These are the loud Amber Alerts and severe weather alerts you may have heard at restaurants or movie theaters. WEAs are useful but cover broad geographic areas, often an entire county or weather warning zone. They cannot tell you that your specific street is in an evacuation zone or that the boil-water notice covers your zip code. The county sign-up system fills that gap by letting you enter your home address, your phone number, and the type of alert you want to receive.

Most counties use one of three major alert platforms: Everbridge, CodeRED, or Hyper-Reach. The sign-up page asks for your home address, mobile and landline numbers, email, and the categories of alerts you want, such as fire, flood, severe weather, hazardous materials, water service, road closures, and missing persons. Some counties also offer special senior-focused alerts about cooling centers, heating help, and check-in services. The sign-up is free and you can update or cancel it any time. Most counties also let you register additional addresses. So you can be alerted at your home, your second home, your church, or a family member's house.

This guide walks you through finding your county's official sign-up page (avoiding scam look-alikes), filling in the registration form correctly, confirming the sign-up worked with a test message, enabling Wireless Emergency Alerts on your phone, and registering family members at other addresses. Set aside about 30 minutes to do this once. After that, you may never have to think about it again. But you will get the first text when a real emergency comes to your area, ahead of the news and ahead of social media.