In an emergency, city now has more ways to let you know

A few days before Christmas, Long Beach was hit with severe rain that caused flooding in some areas, particularly in the West End and the canals. The city is no stranger to storms, big and small.

As a result, it has decided to step up its emergency notification system, switching to what it calls CivicPlus Mass Notification, or CivicReady, which will send emergency as well as routine alerts and notifications to residents. The alerts can be delivered by text message, email, pager or voicemail instead of just robocalls.

About 9,000 residents have signed up for the notifications thus far.

“This isn’t necessarily something highly localized, like ‘There’s an accident on this road that will be cleared up in an hour,’” City spokesman John McNally said of the new system. “It’s really for things like the flooding during the holidays. We would keep everybody posted if there’s another Hurricane Sandy, if we’re expecting some real severe weather or if there’s a snow emergency declared and cars have to be off the streets.”

So far, last month’s flooding has been the lone time the city has used the system. It has been fully operational since Jan. 1.

The new system is also less expensive for the city than the one it used previously, OnSolve CodeRed — a robocall network  — and gives Long Beach “a superior product,” McNally said. The city had not disclosed the difference in cost by press time.

The new system will not necessitate any changes in procedure at the city’s police, fire and emergency response departments. It simply lets the community know about weather and other emergencies faster.

“This is a positive thing where the city is able to communicate super fast with the residents in times of emergency,” Fire Commissioner Joseph Miller said. “To be able to do that without delays and get people the information they need is a plus for the community.”

Along with emergency notifications, announcements about non-emergency incidents can also be sent out — for significant transportation problems or police or fire activity, for example.

Residents can also be informed about planned city events, including parades and celebrations. “You can be notified when fireworks are taking place on such a date,” McNally said. “We want to try and use the robocalls very sparingly, so people don’t tune them out. But this would allow people to get updates on different city events, whether it’s a run that’s going on or a concert series, or things of that nature that are not an emergency.”

Residents may soon see the second notification, and the first non-emergency: An announcement of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march, set for Monday.

“It’s extremely important that people sign up for these notifications,” Interim City Manager Ron Walsh said. “You can always manage the number of notifications and the type of notifications you get, but you’ll never know if you don’t sign up.”