CT Alert: How to Stay Informed During Hurricanes, Nor'easters and Emergencies

Hurricane Sandy bowled through Connecticut on the anniversary of the October snowstorm and a week later a Nor'easter dropped snow in West Hartford and the Farmington Valley.

During Sandy, many towns sent emergency alerts to their residents though CT Alert. Instead of waiting until the next storm and possible power or Internet outages to sign up, here's how you can do so right now to be preapred and stay informed.

As West Hartford officials prepared for Hurricane Sandy at the end of October, the Emergency Operations Committee recommended that residents sign up for West Hartford emergency notifications through CT Alert Emergency Notification System on the state website at www.CTAlert.gov.

West Hartford also has its own "Community Advisory Notification System," a subset of the state's system that can provide critical town-specific or even neighborhood specific emergency information about road closures, missing persons, evacuations, and other updates. 

The service, powered by Everbridge, is a reverse 911 database that calls the landlines of anyone signed up with a voice message from town officials with the latest updates during emergency situations or natural disasters. CT Alert automatically tied to a database of landlines (including unlisted numbers), but it's a good idea to include additional contact information. You can sign up for alerts from multiple towns in the state, whether it's where you reside, where your family lives or it's the town you work in.

You can also sign up through both CT Alert and West Hartford's advisory program to receive notifications (including text messages) on cell phones, pagers and via email and prioritize where you want to receive the messages first.

Parents or guardians with children in West Hartford Public Schools are also provided with the opportunity to sign up for notifications through Connect ED. The service provides critical information to the entire school community about delays or closings, and can also transmit information on a school-specific basis.

In order to be fully informed, residents are advised to register with all of these systems.

Are you signed up for CTAlert? Do you find the system useful? What other resources do you turn to for information during storms?