News Flash

Citizens in Roswell and throughout Chaves County are encouraged to sign up for notifications from the city and county that will warn, inform and instruct residents during severe weather and emergency situations. People can select one or more means – text message, email and voice message – of receiving the notifications.

The emergency-notification system, called CivicReady by the company that developed it, was earlier set up in connection with the Chaves County website and is now available on the City of Roswell’s new website. Citizens can sign up for the free service by visiting the city website (roswell-nm.gov) and clicking on the link called CivicReady/Emergency Notifications.

Residents can also sign up for the notifications at the Eastern New Mexico State Fair that takes place in Roswell Oct. 3-8. Roswell Fire Department personnel will be at a booth in the Commercial Building during the fair to help people sign up and to answer questions about the notification system. Computers will be available at the booth for signing up.

Residents signing up for the notifications can choose not only through which means they would like to receive information, they can also customize their registration to limit what times of the day they allow notifications to be sent to them. People can also select the types of weather situations for which they would like to be notified. The weather section of the system includes things such as severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, excessive heat and other specific weather threats. The emergency-notification website also features information about preparing for a wide variety of weather and other emergencies, as well as what to do during and after those situations.

Having a mass-notification system in place allows the Roswell/Chaves County Office of Emergency Management and other emergency-response agencies to more quickly notify residents of important and urgent information during emergency situations or potential threats and hazards. All Roswell and Chaves County residents are asked to sign up so the system can be used most effectively to notify the greatest number of people when needed. A person will receive notifications only if that person has signed up to do so.

“The system enables officials throughout Chaves County to provide essential information quickly, through a variety of avenues, when there is a threat to the health and safety of the residents,” says Roswell/Chaves County Emergency Manager Karen Sanders.

When signing up electronically, an email address is required and is used to identify the person signing up. A person registered in the system can sign in any time to change the specifications in his or her account. Anyone who does not have an email address may sign up by calling the Roswell/Chaves County Office of Emergency Management at (575) 624-6740.

A user may enter multiple phone numbers and addresses, with the latter enabling the user to receive emergency notifications effecting different locations, which could perhaps include a person’s home, work site, school or residences of other family members. The system allows officials to send out notifications to the entire city or county, or limit a notification to a specific area being affected by an emergency situation.